The United Nations human rights workplace on Tuesday condemned Israeli safety forces and Jewish settlers for killing over 500 Palestinians within the occupied West Bank since Oct. 7.
It stated in a press release that Israel had used “unnecessary and disproportionate” pressure within the Israeli-occupied territory and condemned what it stated was the systematic denial of medical support.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon the U.N. assertion.
“As if the tragic events in Israel and then Gaza over the past eight months were not enough, the people of the occupied West Bank are also being subjected to day-after-day of unprecedented bloodshed,” United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk stated in a press release.
“It is unfathomable that so many lives have been taken in such a wanton fashion.”
Türk insisted “the killing, destruction and widespread human rights violations are unacceptable, and must cease immediately.”
“Israel must not only adopt but enforce rules of engagement that are fully in line with applicable human rights norms and standards,” he stated, demanding accountability for all alleged illegal killings.
Violence has surged within the West Bank for the reason that Hamas-led incursion of Israel on Oct. 7 final 12 months was met by a brutal Israeli navy offensive within the Gaza Strip, killing greater than 36,000 Palestinians.
Israeli safety forces have in current months cracked down on the West Bank, which Palestinians need because the core of a future unbiased state together with Gaza, and made 1000’s of arrests.
Israeli officers have beforehand claimed that they’re performing to stop irritation of long-running violence within the West Bank, together with by Hamas members, and to stop assaults on Israel.
U.N. human rights displays studied 80 circumstances in-depth amongst 505 documented deaths of Palestinians within the West Bank for the reason that Oct. 7 incursion, by which Israel stated about 1,200 individuals have been killed and about 250 have been kidnapped.
The circumstances examine confirmed “consistent violations of international human rights law on the use of force by the ISF (Israeli security forces) through unnecessary and disproportionate use of lethal force and an increase in apparently planned targeted killings,” Türk stated.
‘Pervasive impunity’
Some of the Palestinians killed within the West Bank have been kids armed with stones or firecrackers and “clearly did not represent an imminent threat to life,” it added.
It didn’t say what number of Palestinians had been killed within the West Bank by settlers, and what number of by Israeli forces.
The excessive variety of those that died after being shot within the higher a part of the physique, together with the denial of medical help to the injured, recommended an intent to kill, it stated.
“Pervasive impunity for such crimes has been commonplace for far too long in the occupied West Bank. Such impunity has created an enabling environment for more and more unlawful killings by the ISF,” Türk stated.
While Hamas runs Gaza, the Palestinian Authority workouts restricted self-rule within the West Bank.
Settler violence is a supply of rising concern amongst Israel’s Western allies. Several nations, together with the United States, have imposed sanctions on violent settlers and urged Israel to do extra to cease the violence.
Source: www.dailysabah.com