UN calls on Israel to halt killing in West Bank

A UN report has called on Israel to put an end to “unlawful killings and settler violence against the Palestinian population” in the occupied West Bank, according to a UN press release issued yesterday.

The UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner condemned the rapid deterioration of the human rights situation in the occupied West Bank after 7 October.

According to the UN Human Rights Office, 300 Palestinians, including 79 children, were killed in the occupied West Bank between 7 October and 27 December. “Of these, Israeli Security Forces killed at least 291 Palestinians, settlers killed eight, and one Palestinian was killed either by Israeli Security Forces or settlers. Prior to 7 October, 200 Palestinians had already been killed in the area in 2023 – the highest number in a ten-month-period since the UN began keeping records in 2005,” the UN OHCHR press release stated.

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The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, said: “The use of military tactics means and weapons in law enforcement contexts, the use of unnecessary or disproportionate force, and the enforcement of broad, arbitrary and discriminatory movement restrictions that affect Palestinians are extremely troubling.”

The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced yesterday the death of Tariq Al-Shakhshir, 21, as a result of occupation forces storming several neighbourhoods in Nablus nearly ten days ago.

With the death of al-Shakhshir, the number of Palestinians killed  in the West Bank since 7 October has risen to 313, with a total of 521 Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank since the beginning of 2023.

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