Israeli settlers and security forces have intensified their killings, attacks and harassment of Palestinians in recent weeks in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the United Nations human rights office warns.
The violence also includes the demolitions of hundreds of homes and forced mass displacement of Palestinians as well as annexations of more land in violation of international law, Thameen Al-Kheetan, spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.
The UN body’s warning came as the Palestinian death toll in the West Bank inches closer to 1,000 since October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel and Israeli forces launched their genocidal campaign in Gaza, where more than 58,000 Palestinians have been killed.
At least 964 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank since that day, according to the UN. At least 2,907 home demolitions were also carried out by Israel during the same period.
The UN issued its warning on Tuesday on the heels of the killing of 20-year-old United States citizen Sayfollah Mussallet, who was beaten to death by Israeli settlers in Sinjil town, northeast of Ramallah, on Friday.
“Israel must immediately stop these killings, harassment and home demolitions across the occupied Palestinian territory,” Al-Kheetan said in a separate statement published on the OHCHR website.
“As the occupying power, Israel must take all feasible measures to ensure public order and safety in the West Bank.”
Since January, there have been 757 settler attacks on Palestinians or their properties, which is a 13 percent increase over the same period last year, the OHCHR said.
In January, Israel also launched a major military operation called “Iron Wall”, forcibly displacing 30,000 Palestinians in the West Bank, the agency added.
The OHCHR also accused Israeli forces of firing “live ammunition at unarmed Palestinians”, including those trying to go back to their homes in the refugee camps of Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams.
The intensity of violence by settlers and Israeli forces has so alarmed Palestinians that many, including residents in the Old City of Hebron, have been forced to turn their homes into cages, putting up barbed wire on their windows to protect themselves.
Hebron resident Areej Jabari told Al Jazeera that despite the protective wire, her family still feels unsafe.
“Barbed wire can’t protect from all the wire that settlers throw at us and from bullets and tear gas often fired by Israeli forces,” she said.
Parts of Hebron, where about 35,000 Palestinians and 700 Israeli settlers live, are under Israeli military control.
Jabari said that when she tried to document one of the attacks, Israeli forces broke into her residence, broke the glass windows, and seized her camera and its memory card.
The OHCHR said Israeli forces have often used unnecessary or disproportionate force, including lethal force, against Palestinians “who did not pose an imminent threat to life”.
The youngest of the victims has been two-year-old Laila al-Khatib, who was shot in the head by Israeli forces in January while she was inside her house in Ash-Shuhada village in Jenin governorate.
On July 3, 61-year-old Walid Badir was shot and killed by Israeli forces, reportedly while he was cycling home from prayers and passing through the outskirts of the Nur Shams camp.
In June, the UN said it recorded the highest monthly injury toll of Palestinians in more than two decades with 96 Palestinians injured in Israeli settler attacks.
Al-Kheetan said Israel is obligated as an occupying force to protect Palestinians from settler attacks. He called for an “independent and transparent” investigation into the killings.
“Those responsible must be held to account,” Al-Kheetan said.
On Monday, top church leaders and diplomats from more than 20 countries also called on Israeli settlers to be held accountable during a visit to the predominantly Christian town of Taybeh after recent attacks in the West Bank village.
