The UN Human Rights Office said that violence against Palestinians in the West Bank is growing with increasing number of killings and attacks by settlers and security forces, according to Reuters.
Violent Incidents
“Israeli settlers and security forces have intensified their killings, attacks and harassment of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in the past weeks,” Thameen Al-Kheetan, a spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OCHCR), told reporters in Geneva.
Israeli settlers’ violence against Palestinians has sparked anger and frustration towards the US as Palestinians mourned the death of two men, one of them a Palestinian American, killed by settlers.
Approximately 1 million Israeli settlers live in illegal settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in violation of international law.
OHCHR noted that settlers have launched 757 attacks on Palestinians or their properties since January 2025.
Forcible Displacement
Since the launch of the Israeli military operation “Iron Wall”, nearly 30,000 Palestinians have suffered forcible displacement in the north of the West Bank.
Last week, thirty Palestinian families were forced to leave their homes in a remote area of the occupied West Bank due to the mounting violence of Israeli settlers.
Members of the Bedouin Mleihat tribe started to dismantle homes built with iron sheets and wooden boards, after years of escalating harassment and attacks by settlers.
“The settlers are armed and attack us, and the (Israeli) military protects them. We can’t do anything to stop them. We can’t take it anymore, so we decided to leave,” said Mahmoud Mleihat, a 50-year-old father of seven from the community.
Crucially, Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has documented persistent acts of violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in Mu’arrajat, near Jericho.
Building Jewish State
In May, Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Israel planned to build a “Jewish Israeli state” in the occupied West Bank, according to Al-Arabiya.
Katz’s remarks followed Israel’s announcement of the creation of 22 new settlements in the West Bank.
He also noted that the new settlements would be a clear message to French President Emmanuel Macron and his associates: they will recognize a Palestinian state on paper – but Israel will build the Jewish Israeli state here on the ground.
Annexing West Bank
In this context, fifteen Israeli Cabinet Ministers from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party have recently pushed him to immediately annex the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The lawmakers have signed a petition requesting the administration “to apply sovereignty over Judea and Samaria (West Bank) before the end of the Knesset summer session,” which ends on July 27.
They also implied that the current moment is appropriate for the annexation thanks to strong US-Israeli relations and the recent military gains.
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Israel Kills American Citizens in West Bank, Anger Turns toward US
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