UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS FROM HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICE SPOKESPERSON; ADDS REMARKS FROM OCHA
By Beyza Binnur Donmez
GENEVA (AA) - The UN on Friday said that it is "extremely alarmed" by the rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in the occupied West Bank, where dozens have been killed, with rising cases of violence by Israeli settlers and arbitrary arrests of Palestinians.
"Since Oct. 7, our office has received reports that 69 Palestinians, including at least 15 children and one woman, have been killed by Israeli security forces in the occupied West Bank. Yesterday, 14 Palestinians were reportedly killed, most of them in a drone strike," UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told a press conference in Geneva.
Underlining that settler violence "has also further increased," Shamdasani said six Palestinians have been killed by armed Israeli settlers, and a number of Palestinian communities have been forced from their land.
The number of arbitrary arrests of West Bank Palestinians and Arab Israelis in Israel, including Palestinian activists and workers formerly employed in Israel, has risen, along with reports of ill-treatment and lack of due process, she added.
She urged: "This must cease."
Shamdasani stressed that over the last two weeks – since Israel began reprisals over a cross-border raid from Gaza by Hamas on Oct. 7 – "many Palestinians in the West Bank have been denied freedom of movement, including being prevented from reaching hospitals to receive life-saving care.”
"Restrictions on freedom of movement must be necessary and proportionate to achieve a legitimate aim," she added.
Additionally, she voiced concern about continuing heavy strikes by Israeli forces across Gaza, including in the southern part of the strip.
"The strikes, coupled with extremely difficult living conditions in the south, appear to have pushed some to return to the north, despite the continuing heavy bombing there," she said.
She also voiced concern about rockets being fired indiscriminately from Gaza into Israel.
The Human Rights Office implores all parties to allow "the rapid and unimpeded" passage of humanitarian relief for all civilians in need, Shamdasani also urged.
- Airstrike on church
Asked by Anadolu about Israel’s attack on a Greek Orthodox church in Gaza on Thursday evening, Shamdasani said that the Human Rights Office is aware of the church and that they condemn any attack on civilian infrastructures, the destruction of protected buildings, and the death and injury of civilians.
"It is unclear exactly what happened and how it happened, but we are looking into it," she said.
Following the briefing, the Israeli army acknowledged on Friday that a church in Gaza suffered damage when its forces targeted a site it said was "close to" a Hamas commander in Gaza.
- Aid trucks still waiting at border gate
On the humanitarian aid trucks currently waiting at Egypt’s Rafah crossing to be allowed into Gaza, the spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that OCHA does not have an exact time for when the aid can enter the enclave.
Jens Laerke added that negotiations on the matter continue and the UN agency hopes they will be let in "as soon as possible."
Laerke also stressed that it is not possible to assess the volume of the humanitarian assistance needed in Gaza right now, but that the needs are clear: water, food, fuel, and medical supplies.
Underlining the aid’s life-saving role for the people in Gaza, he called the Rafah crossing "a lifeline" for southern Gaza where more and more people are gathering following an Israel order for them to abandon their homes in the north.
The conflict in Gaza, under Israeli bombardment and blockade since Oct. 7, began when Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, a multi-pronged surprise attack that included a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel by land, sea, and air. It said the incursion was in retaliation for the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and growing violence by Israeli settlers.
The Israeli military then launched Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, along with stepping up raids and arrests in the occupied West Bank.
Since Oct. 7, around 870 Palestinians have been detained by the Israeli army in the West Bank, according to Amani Sarahneh, a spokeswoman for the Palestinian Prisoners Society.
The death toll from Israel's ongoing bombardment of Gaza has climbed to 4,137, according to a Gaza Health Ministry spokesman, while the number of injured has risen to 13,300 and over 1,000 others are missing.