Since the Israeli-Hamas conflict broke out last month, Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have been the subject of increased violence, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, who stated on Friday that Israel had to act quickly to safeguard them.
Volker Turk stated that since the beginning of October, at least 176 Palestinians—43 of them children and one woman—had died in events involving Israeli security personnel. Israeli settlers have slain at least eight Palestinians.
About 200 Palestinians had already died in the Israeli-occupied West Bank this year, making it the worst on record before the Islamist organization Hamas and Israel launched their battle in Gaza on October 7.
“I …appeal as a matter of urgency for Israeli authorities to take immediate measures, to take steps to ensure the protection of Palestinians in the West Bank, who are being subjected daily to violence from Israeli forces and settlers, ill-treatment, arrests, evictions, intimidation, and humiliation,” Turk told reporters in Amman, the capital of Jordan.
The rising violence in the West Bank has opened up a third front in a more significant conflict between Israel and the Palestinian region, where there have been clashes with Hezbollah troops in Lebanon.
“Israel must ensure that all incidents of violence are promptly and effectively investigated and that victims are provided with effective remedies,” Turk stated. “Continued widespread impunity for such violations is unacceptable and dangerous, and it is a clear violation of Israel’s obligation under international human rights law.”
In addition to declaring that it has been carrying out counterterrorism operations against Hamas terrorists and other armed Palestinian groups in the West Bank, Israel has promised to destroy the organization.
Israeli forces have murdered hundreds of Palestinians in the last eighteen months, including stone-throwing youngsters, seasoned militant combatants, and innocent bystanders, while also making thousands of arrests throughout the West Bank. Numerous Israelis have lost their lives as a result of Palestinian assaults throughout the same period.
