Wednesday, 27 May 2026
Children walk as Palestinians wait to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip. Reuters
UN reports escalating violence against Palestinians in the West Bank
GENEVA – The United Nations human rights office reported on Tuesday that attacks and killings targeting Palestinians by both settlers and security forces in the occupied West Bank have surged in recent weeks.
According to Thameen Al-Kheetan, spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Israeli settlers and security forces have heightened their assaults, fatalities, and ongoing harassment of Palestinians across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Al-Kheetan’s remarks were delivered to reporters in Geneva, as cited by Reuters.
Since the launch of the Israeli military’s “Iron Wall” operation, around 30,000 Palestinians in the northern West Bank have been forcibly displaced.
The OHCHR stated that these developments are accelerating the ongoing de facto annexation of the West Bank, contravening international law.
In June, the West Bank saw its highest monthly number of Palestinian injuries in more than twenty years, according to UN records.
Since January, 757 attacks by settlers on Palestinians or their property have been documented, reflecting a 13 percent increase compared to the same period last year, the OHCHR noted.
Meanwhile, the United Nations refugee agency announced that one in ten children seen at its Gaza clinics this year has suffered from malnutrition.
"Malnutrition rates are climbing in Gaza, particularly since the blockade was further tightened over four months ago on March 2," said Juliette Touma, Director of Communications for UNRWA, speaking to reporters in Geneva via video from Amman, Jordan.
Since January 2024, more than 240,000 children under five have been screened at UNRWA clinics, the agency reported. Prior to the current conflict, acute malnutrition was seldom reported in the Gaza Strip.
“One nurse told us that before this war, he only encountered such cases of malnutrition in textbooks and documentaries,” Touma said.
"Essential supplies—medicine, nutrition, hygiene products, and fuel—are all quickly being depleted," she added.
On May 19, Israel ended an 11-week aid blockade on Gaza, allowing limited UN deliveries to resume. Nevertheless, UNRWA remains prohibited from delivering aid to the enclave.
Israel and the United States have alleged that Hamas is siphoning off UN-led aid, an accusation Hamas denies. In response, they established the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), relying on private US security and logistics firms to deliver aid to distribution centers. The UN has declined to collaborate with these operations.
The UN rights office also reported on Tuesday that at least 875 people have been killed in the past six weeks at aid sites in Gaza run by the GHF—with US and Israeli backing—or at convoys operated by other organizations, including the United Nations.
The majority of fatalities occurred near GHF distribution points, with the remaining 201 deaths taking place along the routes of other aid convoys.
Since October 7, 2023, Israeli forces and settlers have killed at least 964 Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Additionally, 53 Israelis have been killed in the West Bank and within Israel, as a result of reported Palestinian attacks or armed clashes, the UN office stated.