The development comes after “at least four” Israeli Security Forces (ISF) airstrikes on the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarem on Monday night that killed five people – three Palestinian men and two boys aged 13 and 15.
“Three of the dead, including two boys, were killed as they passed the targeted house. located in one of the small and cramped alleys in the camp,” OHCHR said in a statement, citing multiple sources.
The UN office warns that the situation in the occupied West Bank “could get significantly worse if the ISF continues to systematically use unlawful lethal force. and ignore the violence caused by settlers.”
The latest confirmed casualty figures from the UN human rights office show that 628 Palestinians killed in the West Bank from October 7 – the day of Hamas-led terrorist attacks in Israel that led to the war – to August 27.
“Of these, 609 Palestinians were killed by the ISF, 11 by settlers and eight by the ISF or settlers in joint attacks. However, 159 of those killed, including 29 boys and three women, died as a result of airstrikes,” OHCHR said in an update.
Condemning the “increasing military response” of Israeli forces in the West Bank, OHCHR asserted that their activities violated international humanitarian law.
“The ISF’s use of airstrikes and other military weapons and tactics violates these standards and has resulted in extrajudicial executions and other unlawful killings as well as the destruction of Palestinian homes and infrastructure,” the statement said.
Many raids, violence by settlers
Palestinians have also been targeted elsewhere in the West Bank, including on Monday night when dozens of armed Israeli settlers attacked the village of Wadi Rahal in Bethlehem.
One victim of the violence, Khalil Salem Khlawi, 37, was “shot in the back and killed” – believed to be by armed settlers or army reservists.
The OHCHR said settlers also allegedly shot and injured three other Palestinian men and prevented Palestinian ambulances from reaching the injured.
It quotes sources as saying that the ISF “stood by and watched until the man was killed, and only then dispersed the settlers, without arresting any of them.”. According to Israeli media, the ISF claimed that their reservists opened fire and hit several Palestinians.
The OHCHR stressed that the killing of Mr. Khlawi “was not an isolated incident but a direct consequence of Israel’s settlement policy in the occupied West Bank, which violates international law, with the complicity of the ISF and the prevailing lawless environment.”
As part of its work at the OPT, the UN human rights office documented daily attacks by settlers on Palestinians, “including settlers assaulting Palestinians, burning or destroying their property and crops, stealing sheep, preventing them from accessing their land, water and pastures, and forcing them to leave their homes and land”.
The OHCHR noted that the long-standing trend of settler attacks on Palestinians had “escalated significantly” since 7 October with support from “the highest levels” of government.
“Despite announcements of investigations, following several instances of settler violence and sporadic arrests of alleged perpetrators, No settlers have been prosecuted since October 7 for crimes related to settler violence.The United Nations human rights office noted.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Aid, OCHA, As of 7 October 2023, 259 Palestinian households (1,547 people), including 753 childrenhave been forcibly relocated in cases involving Israeli settlers.
East Jerusalem is not a holy place
In East Jerusalem, the Israeli authorities continue to apply discriminatory zoning laws and demolish Palestinian homes in violation of international law, OHCHR said.
“Thousands of Palestinians are at risk of forced displacement in Silwan,” the UN office said, citing the case of the Odeh family in the Al Bustan area of Silwan, whose home was razed by Israeli forces on August 27, displacing 10 Palestinians, including two children.
Six other Palestinian homes have been demolished in the same area since October 7, the OHCHR said, noting that Israeli authorities had threatened to demolish the neighborhood, home to 1,550 Palestinians, to make room for a “green zone”.
