Over 200 Palestinians killed by Israel in 2023, UN says

Israeli occupation forces have killed more than 200 Palestinians so far this year, the highest number since 2005, the UN Mideast envoy announced yesterday.

The figure also surpasses the total number of Palestinians killed by Israeli occupation forces throughout 2022, which amounted to 155.

Addressing the UN Security Council, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, said 30 Israelis have also been killed this year.

He highlighted the ongoing expansion of illegal Israeli settlements, which are a violation of international law and a significant obstacle to peace, and Israel’s demolition of Palestinian homes, its activities within the occupied West Bank as well as assaults by Israeli settlers on Palestinian villages.

READ: Lack of peace progress leaves ‘dangerous and volatile vacuum’ in Israel, Palestine

“While we must urgently focus on addressing the most critical issues and on de-escalating the situation on the ground, we cannot ignore the need to restore a political horizon,” he continued.

Wennesland also took to social media to call on “leaders to act now to calm the situation. He warned that this “spiral of violence is leading nowhere but to more bloodshed.”

This comes as Israeli occupation forces this morning killed a 17-year-old Palestinian following a military raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.

According to Fawaz Hamad, head of Al-Razi Hospital in Jenin, Othman Atef Abu Kharj died after suffering severe injuries at the hands of Israeli soldiers during the raid.