Israel operations worsening 'calamitous' West Bank situation: UN

GENEVA — Major Israeli operations across the occupied West Bank are seriously worsening an already "calamitous" situation there that has been deepened by serious settler violence, the UN rights chief said Monday. 

 

Opening a session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Volker Turk decried soaring violence in the West Bank amid major Israeli raids. 

 

"In the West Bank, deadly and destructive operations, some at a scale not witnessed in the last two decades, are worsening a calamitous situation there, already aggravated by serious settler violence," Turk told the council. 

 

Violence in the West Bank has surged alongside the war in Gaza which began after militant group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. 

 

Israel's military on August 28 launched simultaneous raids across several cities and refugee camps in the northern West Bank, killing at least 36 Palestinians, according to the Ramallah-based Palestinian health ministry. 

 

Since October 7, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 662 Palestinians in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

 

Turk also highlighted that nearly 10,000 Palestinians are being held in Israeli prisons or military facilities, "many arbitrarily", and said over 50 have died "due to inhumane conditions and ill-treatment".

 

Israel's offensive in Gaza has so far killed at least 40,972 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

 

The UN human rights office says most of the dead are women and children.

 

Turk stressed that "ending that war and averting a full-blown regional conflict is an absolute and urgent priority".