The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reported a remarkably low homicide rate for the Palestinian Authority in 2022, suggesting it is among the safest places globally. However, this figure is called into question by evidence from local news sources and human rights reports, which indicate that many murders are systematically excluded from official statistics.

The Palestinian Authority omits several categories of homicide, including clan-related killings, honor killings, murders of political dissidents, extra-judicial killings by security forces, and the deaths of Jewish civilians in terrorist attacks. Many of these deaths are resolved privately or go unreported due to cultural taboos, lack of transparent record-keeping, or deliberate government policy.

When these omitted categories are included, the actual number of homicides in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas in 2022 is estimated to be at least 700, resulting in a much higher homicide rate than officially reported. This discrepancy highlights the challenges in obtaining accurate crime data from the region and raises questions about the reliability of official statistics.