By Qais Abu Samra
RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - The Israeli army on Tuesday raided several neighborhoods in the city of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, where settler violence has escalated in recent months, witnesses told Anadolu.
The forces broke into several buildings, searched them and conducted field interrogation with Palestinians. Several buildings remained cordoned off during this time.
Early on Tuesday, the Israeli army killed four Palestinians in the town of Azzun near the northern city of Qalqilya.
Tensions have been high across the West Bank since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, at least 324 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the occupied territory since then, with over 3,400 others injured.
A UN report released last week detailed the rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and called on Israel to end unlawful killings and settler violence against the Palestinian population.
The report called for an immediate end to the use of military weapons and means during law enforcement operations, an end to arbitrary detention and ill-treatment of Palestinians, and the lifting of discriminatory movement restrictions.
“The use of military tactics means and weapons in law enforcement contexts, the use of unnecessary or disproportionate force, and the enforcement of broad, arbitrary and discriminatory movement restrictions that affect Palestinians are extremely troubling,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, reflecting on the findings of the report.
“The violations documented in this report repeat the pattern and nature of violations reported in the past in the context of the long-standing Israeli occupation of the West Bank. However, the intensity of the violence and repression is something that has not been seen in years,” he added.
*Writing by Ahmed Asmar