UN Agency Warns Violence in West Bank Reaches Unprecedented Levels
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Commissioner-General has warned that violence in the West Bank has reached unprecedented levels, with violations of international humanitarian law becoming alarmingly routine in the region.
Philip Lazzarini said in a statement on Sunday that attacks by Israeli settlers are ongoing without interruption, and Palestinian residents face continuous threats, forced evictions from their lands, and destruction of their livelihoods, while perpetrators of these acts remain effectively immune from prosecution and punishment.
According to him, what is happening today in the West Bank is a “silent war” by Israel—a conflict that has received little media attention and has claimed the lives of over a thousand Palestinians since October 2023. Lazzarini added that about a quarter of the victims of this violence were children.
The UNRWA Commissioner-General also noted that tens of thousands are still displaced in the West Bank, and a year after the start of the so-called “Iron Wall” operation, their homes are being gradually demolished to prevent their return. He described this wave of displacement as the largest forced movement since 1967.
Lazzarini emphasized that while global attention is largely focused on the situation in Gaza, widespread violations of humanitarian rights in the West Bank receive less visibility, which has enabled the continuation of violence.
According to published information, since the start of the war in Gaza on October 7, 2023, the Israeli army and settlers in the West Bank have engaged in killings, house demolitions, forced displacement, and expanded settlement construction—actions that have led to approximately 1,100 Palestinian deaths, nearly 11,500 injuries, and the detention of over 21,000 individuals.
Currently, around 770,000 Israeli settlers live in hundreds of settlements and outposts in the West Bank, with nearly 250,000 residing in East Jerusalem. Reports indicate that these settlers regularly commit acts of violence against Palestinians to forcibly displace them from their lands.
