UN Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al Kheetan on Violence in the occupied West Bank

“Images of mobs of masked Israeli settlers carrying out arson attacks in the occupied West Bank this week are abhorrent and reflect a wider pattern of increased violence against Palestinians. Several people were injured in the attacks, which included a raid on a dairy factory and the torching of delivery trucks and homes,” Thameen Al-Kheetan said.

The surge in violence comes as Israeli authorities have ramped up home demolitions, the seizure of property, arrests, and movement restrictions, alongside the unabated building of settlements and outposts and the forcible displacement and transfer of thousands of Palestinians by Israeli settlers and the military.

“Permanently displacing the Palestinian population within occupied territory amounts to unlawful transfer, which is a war crime. The transfer by Israel of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies also amounts to a war crime,” Al-Kheetan said.

“We reiterate that the Israeli Government’s assertion of sovereignty over the occupied West Bank and its annexation of parts of it are in breach of international law, as the International Court of Justice has confirmed. They also violate the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination,” he said.

“More settler attacks were recorded in October than in any month since 2006 – over 260 attacks. Since 7 October 2023, and up until 13 November 2025, Israeli security forces and settlers have killed at least 1,017 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Among the victims were 221 children,” the spokesperson said.

This figure does not include Palestinians who have died in Israeli detention. During the same period, 59 Israelis were killed in Palestinian attacks or alleged attacks or armed clashes.

“Among the latest fatalities in the West Bank was a 13-year-old Palestinian boy Aysam Jihad Labib Naser. He died on Tuesday, a month after inhaling tear gas fired by Israeli security forces towards him and his family, as settlers attacked them while they were harvesting olives in their land in Beita, near Nablus,” Al-Kheetan highlighted.

“UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk reiterates that attacks against Palestinians and their property must stop, and those responsible must be held to account,” he said.

Israel must end its unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory, including by ceasing immediately all new settlement activities, and evacuating all settlers from the occupied Palestinian territory. Palestinians’ right to self-determination must be realised, Al-Kheetan said.

ENDS

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al Kheetan on Violence in the occupied West Bank

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