UNRWA Warns of Escalating Israeli Violence in the West Bank to Unprecedented Levels

SadaNews - The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, stated on Sunday that Israeli violence in the occupied West Bank has reached "record levels."

Lazzarini added in a statement that what is happening in the West Bank is the "silent (Israeli) war that has not received adequate coverage."

He continued: "Record levels of violence in the occupied West Bank since October 2023, where more than a thousand Palestinians have been killed, nearly a quarter of them children."

Since the beginning of the genocide in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, Israel, through its army and settlers, has intensified committing crimes in the West Bank, including killings, home demolitions, the forced displacement of Palestinians, and colonial expansion.

This escalation has resulted in the martyrdom of 1,110 Palestinians, the injury of about 11,500 others, and the arrest of more than 21,000.

Israeli settler attacks continue relentlessly, while Palestinian communities are continuously subjected to intimidation, uprooting from their land, and destruction of their livelihoods, with "impunity" prevailing, according to Lazzarini.

Approximately 770,000 Israeli settlers reside in hundreds of settlements and outposts in the occupied West Bank, including 250,000 in East Jerusalem, committing daily attacks against Palestinian citizens with the aim of forcibly displacing them.

Lazzarini added: "Dozens of thousands remain displaced a year after (Israel) launched the 'Iron Wall' operation, the largest displacement operation since 1967, and their homes are gradually being demolished now to prevent their return."

He further noted that "while global attention has focused on Gaza, the blatant disregard for international humanitarian law in the West Bank has become commonplace."