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West Bank settler violence must end with accountability, says UN rights office

The UN human rights office (OHCHR) on Friday called for an end to continuing expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, where “unchecked” settler violence has surged since the war in Gaza began more than two years ago.

“When it comes to the West Bank, attacks by settlers are continuing,” said Thameen Al-Keetan, OHCHR spokesperson.

Speaking in Geneva, he maintained that since war erupted in Gaza following Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel, “Israeli security forces and settlers killed 1,010 Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. And this figure includes 215 children.”

A new report from the UN human rights office into settlement expansion in the West Bank highlights how new demolition orders impacting longstanding Palestinian communities there threaten more with forced displacement.

This includes Umm Al Khair residents, a community of 35 extended families living there since their expulsion from their lands in Negev during the mass forcible displacement of Palestinians in 1948 to1949, which is known as the Nakba, OHCHR said.

Residents of Umm Al Khair have long faced “discriminatory” land regulations and demolitions imposed by Israel, which regards their housing as illegal because they lack building permits which are “almost impossible” for them to obtain, OHCHR alleged.

According to the UN rights office, Israeli settlers have built new outposts connected to the nearby Carmel settlement and expanded their footprint in the occupied territories. In September, they allegedly erected an outpost in the centre of Umm Al Khair “and intensified harassment” of Palestinian residents to force them to leave.

And although a Jerusalem court issued a temporary injunction stopping construction and barring settlers from entering the outpost, “authorities have taken no action to enforce the court order, in stark contrast to the frequent and swift demolitions of Palestinian structures,” OHCHR maintained.

“The attacks have been increasing and we have seen that recently especially with the olive harvest season. These must stop and there must be accountability,” Mr. Al-Keetan told journalists.

“There must be accountability for settlers and for members of Israeli security forces who are involved in these attacks. And of course, we refer back to the ruling by the International Court of Justice that it's very crucial for the unlawful Israeli presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory to end.”

Gaza update

In Gaza, as a fragile ceasefire between Hamas fighters and Israel holds, thousands of schoolchildren have reportedly returned to in-person classes, while aid teams continue to push for greater humanitarian access.

“Hundreds of thousands of families face the onset of winter without essential protection from the elements,” said the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

In an update on Friday it highlighted the UN Secretary-General’s warning that the despite improved aid access, “[the UN is] far from [having] what is necessary to eliminate famine quickly and to create the conditions for the people in Gaza to have the very, very minimum that is necessary for dignity in life”.

The UN aid office also noted continuing reports of military activity in the shattered enclave along with “daily detonations” of residential buildings in areas where the Israeli military remains deployed, especially eastern Khan Younis and eastern Gaza City.

Asked about plans for an international stabilization force in Gaza, OHCHR’s Mr. Al-Keetan insisted that any such force “must respect international law and international humanitarian law”. The right to Palestinian self-determination throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territories must also be respected, he continued.

“Whether there is a ceasefire or not, international humanitarian law, and international human rights law must be respected and civilians must be protected and human rights of people – of Palestinians in Gaza - do not change, whether there is a ceasefire or not.”

ends

Gaza - West Bank comment - OHCHR

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