The UN expressed its shock. On Thursday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, called on Israel to "end the unlawful killings" of the Palestinian population in the occupied West Bank, denouncing the rapid deterioration of human rights in the area.
"The use of military tactics and weapons in policing contexts, the use of unnecessary and disproportionate force, and the application of broad, arbitrary and discriminatory restrictions on movement affecting Palestinians, are extremely concerning," the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement. "The intensity of violence and repression is unprecedented in years," he added.
"Sharp increase in settler attacks" since October 7
The report focuses on the human rights situation in the occupied West Bank and Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem between 7 October, the date of the bloody offensive in Israel by Hamas, and 20 November. It calls for an immediate end to the use of weapons and military assets in law enforcement operations, an end to arbitrary detention and ill-treatment of Palestinians, as well as the lifting of discriminatory restrictions on movement.
Over the period studied, the report shows a "sharp increase" in airstrikes and incursions into refugee camps and other densely populated areas, resulting in "deaths, injuries and extensive damage" to civilian infrastructure. In the weeks following October 7, the report noted a "sharp increase in settler attacks," with "shootings, arson of homes and vehicles, and uprooted trees."
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Volker Türk called on Israel to "take immediate, clear and effective steps to end settler violence against the Palestinian population, investigate all violent incidents involving Israeli settlers and security forces to ensure effective protection of Palestinian communities from any form of forcible transfer, and to ensure the return to their land of pastoralist communities displaced due to attacks by armed settlers."
The deaths of 300 Palestinians studied
The UN Human Rights Office says it verified the deaths of 300 Palestinians, including 79 children, between October 7 and December 27 in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Of that total, "Israeli security forces killed at least 291 Palestinians, settlers killed eight, and one Palestinian was killed either by Israeli security forces or settlers."
Before 7 October, according to the same source, 7,200 Palestinians had already been killed in the area during 2023, the highest number in ten months since 2005, when the UN began recording these deaths. Volker Türk has asked Israel to grant access to his office in the country, which he says is ready to draw up a similar report on the October 7 attacks.
VIDEO. Two children aged 9 and 15 killed by Israeli army in West Bank
The war, sparked by the Hamas attack, has killed more than 21,000 people in the Gaza Strip, including 6,300 women and 8,800 children, according to the health ministry of the Hamas administration ruling the enclave. In Israel, the attack killed about 1,140 Israelis, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on the latest official Israeli figures.
About 250 people have been kidnapped by Hamas, 129 of whom remain in Gaza custody, according to Israel, which has vowed to "destroy" the Palestinian Islamist movement, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, in retaliation for its unprecedented attack. And 167 Israeli soldiers have been killed so far, including three on Wednesday, in the ground offensive in Gaza, the army said Thursday morning.