The UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory condemns the Israeli airstrike on Jenin Refugee Camp in the West Bank on the night of Tuesday, 14 January, which claimed the lives of six Palestinians, including a 15-year-old boy, and injured two others. Videos circulating online reportedly show the victims eating while gathered around a bonfire, moments before the strike.

The incident follows two Israeli airstrikes last week in Tammoun, Tubas that killed five Palestinians including three children aged 8, 10 and 17. Overall, Israeli security forces and settlers killed 819 Palestinians since 7 October 2023, including 251 in airstrikes or with other explosive munitions.

Israel’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including the West Bank, is unlawful and must end. In the meantime, Israel is the occupying power bound by the rules imposed by international law on the use of force. The West Bank is not a zone of active hostilities to which international humanitarian law rules on the conduct of hostilities apply. Instead, Israel is strictly bound by international human rights law, which is applicable to the use of force during law enforcement. In this context deliberate lethal force can only be used to prevent an imminent threat to life.

The use of airstrikes, targeting individuals not posing any imminent threat, is a flagrant example of Israel’s growing use of military tactics and weapons in law enforcement operations and use of unnecessary and disproportionate force in the West Bank in violation of international human rights law, with apparent disregard for Palestinian lives. Jenin, in particular, has borne the brunt of steadily intensifying violence by both Israeli and Palestinian security forces.

In the West Bank, both Israel and the Palestinian Authority must ensure that their operations minimize risk to human life. The carrying out of airstrikes, the targeted killings of “wanted” persons who are not posing an imminent threat to life, and the use of tactics that frequently result in the shooting of unarmed bystanders, including children, are in violation of the applicable international human rights law standards.

Concerns over the ongoing operations in Jenin are compounded by the Palestinian Authority’s growing crackdown on freedom of expression and opinion, which is intensifying in connection with the conduct of the Jenin operation.

Such acts include the recent banning of broadcasts by Al Jazeera in the West Bank, months after the Israeli authorities shut down Al Jazeera offices in Ramallah. Residents of Jenin also informed the UN Human Rights Office that Palestinian security forces removed many CCTV cameras from around the camp. Palestinian security forces also reportedly intimidated and banned journalists from entering to cover the PSF operations or subjected them to threats, arrests, beating and ill-treatment. There are concerns that such actions may be deliberate attempts to disrupt access to information about the situation in Jenin.

The UN Human Rights Office has also documented recent administrative orders by local officials effectively outlawing criticism of the Palestinian Authority and what appears to be a significant increase in arbitrary detentions targeting critics of the government, in particular of the Jenin operation. Reports about detention are accompanied by survivors’ testimonies and video evidence indicating torture or ill-treatment.

The repression of freedom of expression, opinion, and the press in the West Bank is not only a violation of international human rights law; it also creates an enabling environment for more violations and infringements of the rights of Palestinians.

Meanwhile on 14 January in Gaza, a reported Israeli airstrike struck and almost completely destroyed a house in Deir al Balah in Middle Gaza, killing at least 12 Palestinians, including at least 4 children and 3 women, while severely injuring others. Among those critically injured was Mr. Raafat Saliha, a long-serving member of the Independent Commission on Human Rights, while his wife and children were killed.

Israel must ensure full compliance with international humanitarian law (IHL) in Gaza, including the principles of distinction, proportionality, precautions in attack and the prohibition of indiscriminate attacks, and must open independent, effective, and transparent investigations into all Israeli attacks that appear to violate fundamental principles of IHL, holding those responsible to account.

The UN Human Rights Office once again calls for full compliance with international human rights norms and standards across the Occupied Palestinian Territory in the realization of the whole range of Palestinians’ human rights. The violence and repression must stop.

The violence, displacement, and humanitarian suffering of the past 15 months has continued through the new year across the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

The Gaza nightmare continues

In Gaza, it has been 15 months of relentless Israeli attacks that have led to the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians, the displacement (often multiple times) of almost everyone across Gaza, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, and the collapse of public order and safety. Nobody has been spared with scores of killings of first responders, healthcare workers, journalists, local police officers, and UN staff. No place is safe with bombardment continuing to destroy homes, shelters, hospitals, schools and places of worship.

The first week of the new year was no different. Israeli airstrikes, artillery shelling and gunfire reportedly killed at least 332 Palestinians in Gaza since 1 January 2025, including women and children. The Israeli military is still issuing displacement orders, including in Middle Gaza. Airstrikes in Gaza City and Middle Gaza were particularly harsh last week, creating further insecurity and risks for Palestinians who are being forcibly displaced from northern Gaza and are seeking shelter in these areas.

In the meantime, Israel continues to impede the entry of aid into Gaza. The collapse of public order and safety, in large part a result of the Israeli military’s targeting of civilian police, also continues to make it difficult to deliver what little aid is available effectively to those most in need throughout Gaza.

Since 1 January 2025, at least two incidents were reported of Israeli airstrikes allegedly killing guards providing security to aid distribution. A 74-truck UN aid convoy was attacked last Saturday by looters who then seized 43 trucks. An Israeli airstrike on Sunday reportedly hit the tents of internally displaced persons in the Israeli-designated “humanitarian zone” of Al Mawasi - Khan Yunis and killed two civilian police leaders, one of whom was allegedly in charge of aid security.

The suffering of Palestinians in Gaza is compounded by the harsh winter weather conditions with no proper shelters to stave off the cold and rain. On Monday, 6 January, a 35-day-old baby reportedly died from hypothermia bringing the total reported number of Palestinians who succumbed to the cold to eight, most of them children.

The West Bank

The deterioration of the human rights situation in the West Bank also continues into the New Year. This includes the sustained increase in violence which has so far killed 81 3Palestinians over the past 15 months, especially as a result of settler violence and Israel’s security forces’ consistent use of unlawful lethal. This has involved the growing pattern of using methods and means of warfare outside the conduct of hostilities, the use of lethal force against unarmed Palestinian bystanders, including children and women not posing any threat to life or limb, and extrajudicial executions of Palestinians “wanted” by Israel.

This is in addition to the forced displacement of Palestinians with incessant demolitions and forced evictions, the expansion of illegal settlements, severe restrictions on freedom of movement essentially tearing communities apart, and an unprecedented repression of freedoms of expression, press and opinion.

Since 1 January 2025, Israeli security forces continued daily raids of Palestinian communities reportedly killed nine Palestinians, including four children, most recently two boys aged eight and ten who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Tammun today, 8 January. 

On Friday, Israeli settlers attacked several Palestinian communities across the occupied West Bank, assaulted and set fire to Palestinian homes and vehicles and seriously injured at least ten Palestinians, among them an elderly Palestinian man. On Monday, Palestinian armed men reportedly shot at Israeli vehicles near an Israeli settlement, killing three Israelis including two women aged 70 and 73 and an off-duty police officer aged 35 and injuring eight others. Threats of retaliatory violence are surfacing in the media including by senior Israeli officials.

Concerns about the conduct of the Palestinian security forces

The conduct of the Palestinian security forces also continues to be a matter of concern as an operation in Jenin Refugee Camp continued since 5 December 2024. So far, eight Palestinians were killed in the course of the operation, most of them unarmed, and six Palestinian security officers. Among those killed since the beginning of the year in Jenin are a father and his 14-yearold son who were shot to death together on Friday, 3 January. The Palestinian security forces denied responsibility for the incident.

This is happening along with a growing crackdown on the freedom of expression and press in the West Bank including the Palestinian Authority’s shutdown of Al Jazeera broadcasts, reported administrative orders banning criticism of the Palestinian Authority on social media, and reported arrests, threats and ill-treatment based on the exercise of freedom of expression.

We are reiterating our calls on the Palestinian security forces to operate within the strict limits of international human rights law and urge the conduct of transparent, thorough, and effective investigations into all killings by the Palestinian security forces.

Violations of international law must end

Fifteen months of grave breaches of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law with impunity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory cannot be allowed to continue for another year. This responsibility falls on the entire international community, especially countries with influence and leverage who can exercise pressure to protect civilians from further suffering and ensure accountability.

The UN Human Rights Office calls once again on Israel to respect its international law obligations, including as the occupying power, to ensure the protection of Palestinian civilians and their unimpeded and dignified access to basic services and essential needs.

The UN Human Rights Office additionally calls for the release of all those arbitrarily detained in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the hostages who remain in Gaza. We remind Israel of its obligation to end its illegal presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as per the International Court of Justice, and to stop all violations of international law including practices that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.