Israel has not prosecuted its citizens for killing Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank in recent years, according to an analysis of legal data and public records by The Guardian.
The findings showed that since 2020, Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed at least 1,100 Palestinian civilians in the West Bank, including at least a quarter who were children, based on United Nations data.
No indictments have been filed in connection with those deaths, while the last prosecution tied to a fatal attack by security forces dates to 2019 and by a civilian to 2018, the British daily reported.
The lack of accountability comes as violence has intensified, particularly following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas incursion and Israel's genocidal war on Gaza that followed.
This month alone, Israeli settlers and police killed 10 Palestinian civilians in the West Bank, including two young brothers and their parents, according to the report.
A group of former senior Israeli security officials warned in a public letter that "almost daily" attacks on Palestinians amount to "Jewish terrorism" and pose an existential threat if left unchecked.
The signatories included former military chiefs, intelligence heads and police commissioners, underscoring growing alarm within Israel's security establishment.
Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called for intervention by the International Criminal Court, urging it to take enforcement measures against those responsible.
"I have decided not only not to remain silent, but to draw the attention of the ICC in The Hague so that it may take enforcement measures and issue arrest warrants," Olmert told The Guardian.
Data from Israeli rights group Yesh Din indicates that more than 96% of police investigations into settler violence between 2020 and 2025 closed without indictments, with only 2% resulting in full or partial convictions.
Complaints against Israeli soldiers show even lower accountability rates, with fewer than 1% leading to charges, according to the report.
"The Israeli law-enforcement systems, both civil and military, function less as mechanisms for justice and more as shields for perpetrators," said Yesh Din director Ziv Stahl.
Legal experts say the system has historically relied on rare prosecutions to demonstrate accountability in international forums, but those cases have largely disappeared in recent years.
Michael Sfard, an Israeli human rights lawyer, told The Guardian that "the system is programmed to manufacture impunity, not accountability."
Criticism has also emerged from political figures. Two former justice ministers accused the current government of allowing "active and horrific ethnic cleansing" in the West Bank in a letter signed by more than 20 legal figures.
Israel's military chief, Eyal Zamir, has called on authorities to act against settler violence, warning it must be stopped "before it is too late."
