Far-right Israeli security chief calls for widening military operation in occupied West Bank

By Mucahit Aydemir

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israel’s far-right national security minister called for a wider military operation and intensive settlement campaign in the occupied West Bank, according to local media on Friday.

“There needs to be full settlement here. Not just here but on all the hilltops around us,” said Itamar Ben-Gvir, who leads the far-right Otzma Yehudit party in the government coalition, during a visit to the illegal hilltop outpost of Eviatar, according to the Times of Israel newspaper.

“We have to settle the land of Israel and at the same time need to launch a military campaign, blow up buildings, assassinate terrorists. Not one, or two, but dozens, hundreds, or if needed, thousands,” he added.

“The land of Israel for the Nation of Israel,” he said.

His hard-line remarks came as the UN human rights chief urged Israel to end the violence in the occupied West Bank immediately.

"Israel must urgently reset its policies and actions in the Occupied West Bank in line with international human rights standards, including protecting and respecting the right to life," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement.

The Israeli army on Monday carried out a series of airstrikes on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, killing at least seven Palestinians, including a boy and a girl, and injuring 91 Palestinians and seven Israeli soldiers, according to the UN statement.

On Wednesday, settlers under the protection of Israeli forces carried out a brutal attack on the Palestinian village of Turmus Ayya in the central West Bank, killing one Palestinian and injuring dozens of others and burning 30 houses, 60 cars, and dozens of olive trees.

Tensions have been running high across the occupied West Bank in recent months amid repeated Israeli raids into Palestinian towns.

Estimates indicate that about 700,000 settlers are living in 164 settlements and 116 outposts in the occupied West Bank.

Under international law, all Jewish settlements in the occupied territories are considered illegal.