The UN Human Rights office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) somberly marks World Press Freedom Day as Palestinian journalists continue to be killed or injured at an alarming rate with impunity, along with widespread attacks on their work and freedom.

“Press vests have transformed from a means of protection to a target for attacks,” one journalist told the UN Human Rights office in the OPT. The Office has independently verified the killing of 211 journalists in Gaza since 7 October 2023, including 28 woman journalists. According to UNESCO, at least 47 journalists were killed while on duty. And as of 29 April 2025, 49 Palestinian journalists are held in Israeli detention based on the information from Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military have refused to allow foreign journalists entry to Gaza since 7 October 2023, except for limited army-controlled visits – Palestinian journalists endure the trauma of both living under and reporting on the devastation and death inflicted on Palestinians in Gaza by Israel’s military campaign. They are forced to balance the fear for their lives with their professional commitment to go out and report on daily horrors.

Journalists engaged in professional missions in areas of armed conflict must be respected and protected from attack unless directly participating in hostilities. There are strong indications of incidents in which many Palestinian journalists may have been directly targeted by the Israeli military during their work, which would be a war crime.

Meanwhile in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the resilience of Palestinian journalists also persists despite significant, dangerous and targeted backlash against their work. The UN Human Rights Office has monitored multiple cases of journalists detained, a significant number of whom appear to have been detained arbitrarily. Many are held under administrative detention, while others have been detained under broad allegations of “incitement” for social media posts, in many cases for apparently protected speech, as part of wider ongoing efforts to silence civil society and annihilate any form of opposition to the military occupation. Both men and women journalists detained by Israeli security forces have reported to the UN Human Rights Office that they have been subjected to beatings, humiliation and sexual and gender-based violence during interrogations about their journalistic work.

Detention, threats, ill-treatment and sexual violence against journalists falls into a larger pattern of intimidation and smears against Palestinian press across the OPT, where their legitimate work is often claimed by Israeli security forces to be associated with “terrorism” including as a justification to shut down media offices.

Palestinian authorities have further contributed to the oppressive environment for journalists, including by banning certain media entities from broadcasting in the West Bank since January 2025, reportedly for publishing “inciting content, misinformation, sedition and interference in Palestinian internal affairs”. They have also threatened Palestinian journalists not to feed information to their media outlets. The shutdown came in the context of often critical coverage of a 6-week operation by Palestinian security forces in Jenin refugee camp, which started in December 2024.

Both Palestinian and Israeli security forces have banned or limited journalists’ entry to the Jenin and other refugee camps in northern West Bank. They injured, detained, threatened and in some cases subjected journalists to ill-treatment.

There have also been reports of journalists harassed by Hamas authorities in Gaza, where they were reportedly pressured to refrain from covering sensitive incidents or information critical of the de facto authorities.

The targeting of journalists is a violation of both international humanitarian law and international human rights law and must cease immediately. Perpetrators of attacks on journalists must be held accountable, including by third party States. The killing of journalists in Gaza and the suppression of media coverage across the OPT has likely contributed to the creation of an enabling environment for ongoing violations of international law that the UN Human Rights Office and other entities have repeatedly raised concerns about. The press is a vital part of ensuring accountability for international law violations, and attempts to suppress media work, including through the killing, detention, ill-treatment, threatening of journalists, or shutting down their offices, are disturbing and entirely unacceptable. 

For the past 18 months, hostilities in Gaza and severe restrictions on humanitarian assistance, which now include a complete blockade, have devastated the lives of 2.2 million Palestinians, and nearly all essential infrastructure that civilians depend on for survival has been destroyed. Since the collapse of the ceasefire, and during the past week in particular, Israeli attacks on Palestinians have accelerated, claiming the lives of countless civilians and further risking the complete destruction of what little infrastructure remains. The dire conditions for civilians have been further exacerbated by displacement orders and Israel’s renewed complete blockade of the Gaza Strip that has stopped the flow of life saving, critical assistance from reaching increasingly desperate civilians.

In parallel, rampant settler violence and operations conducted by Israeli security forces in the West Bank are continuing to kill or injure Palestinians and are resulting in the forced displacement of Palestinians from their homes or shelters in many areas.

Attacks in Gaza

What little remains of Gaza’s critical life-saving infrastructure is collapsing under the conditions inflicted by Israel. Israel’s complete closure of Gaza, preventing lifesaving assistance from reaching civilians - including food and fuel - has now entered its eighth week. Bakeries have stopped functioning due to the lack of flour and cooking fuel; the prices of basic food items are soaring; and Israeli attacks at sea continue to decimate Gaza’s fishing industry. With food aid halted, remaining stocks in Gaza are rapidly depleting, rendering the strip’s population, especially vulnerable groups and children, at growing risk of starvation.

As the population becomes increasingly desperate due to the scarcity of food and other vital provisions, social unrest is deepening further, with frequent reports of disputes breaking out within the community involving the use of firearms. This takes place in an environment where the law enforcement and justice system has been systematically dismantled by Israeli attacks and the targeting of civilian officials of the local administration.

The Israeli military also continues targeting civilian objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population. Between 21 and 22 April, the Israeli military conducted deliberate and coordinated attacks across three governorates in Gaza, resulting in the destruction of 36 heavy machines, including excavators, water trucks, and sewer suction tanks. These were being used by Gaza municipalities for humanitarian relief operations, such as rubble removal, water distribution, and maintenance of vital sanitation systems. The destruction of these vehicles is likely to significantly hinder rescue operations, including retrieval of the injured and killed from under the rubble, clearance of debris to allow the movement of ambulances, as well as delivery of safe drinking water, solid waste collection, and the operation of sewage systems – further risking outbreaks of disease. Intentional attacks on civilian objects, that is, objects that are not used for military action and whose destruction does not offer a definite military advantage at the moment of the attack, are unlawful and constitute a war crime under international humanitarian law.

The Israeli military also continues striking the shelters of Palestinians in Gaza. Between 18 March and 22 April, the UN Human Rights office for the Occupied Palestinian Territory recorded 229 attacks on residential buildings and 91 attacks on tents of internally displaced people (IDP) in Gaza, most resulting in fatalities, including many children and women. For instance, at around midnight on 18 April, the Israeli military is reported to have struck two residential buildings belonging to the Maqdad and the Nasio families in Tal Az-Za’atar, North Gaza, killing 13 Palestinians, including 8 children and a journalist, Tamer Maqdad, and injuring others. On 24 April, at around 0300 hours, the Israeli Air Force reportedly hit a house, in Ash Shaikh Redwan, Gaza City, killing two boys and a girl along with their parents. Among these attacks, 36 strikes on IDP tents were reported to have taken place in Al Mawasi area in southern Gaza in which the Israeli military has repeatedly ordered residents of other areas to relocate.

Persistent Israeli military attacks on civilians and civilian objects have continued throughout Gaza in violation of the core principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack required by international humanitarian law. Extremely high civilian casualties over 18 months do not appear to have prompted any changes in Israeli targeting practices and policies, a pattern indicating at the very least a complete disregard for the lives of civilians in Gaza. Matched with Israel’s policy of deliberately blocking life-saving assistance from entering the Gaza Strip, these policies appear to be aimed at punishing the civilian population of Gaza and inflicting on them conditions of life increasingly incompatible with their continued existence as a group in Gaza.

Third States must act according to their clear and unambiguous obligations under international law to ensure that such conduct ceases immediately and to search for and bring to justice perpetrators of crimes under international law.

Renewed wave of settler violence across the West Bank

In the West Bank, high levels of settler violence against Palestinians continue, causing death, injuries and loss of property and undermining Palestinian lives and livelihoods in many areas. On 23 April, Israeli settlers reportedly attacked Palestinians and their property in Khirbet al-Tell area of Sinjil village, Ramallah, resulting in the injury of eight young Palestinian men and the destruction of three agricultural structures. According to information gathered, Israeli security forces prevented emergency crews from reaching the wounded and extinguishing the fire. On 21 April, around 200 settlers burned three houses in the same community and stole sheep belonging to Palestinians, prompting confrontations with residents attempting to defend their properties.

Concerning incidents of settler violence resulting in Palestinian injuries and destruction of property were also recorded in other parts of the West Bank. In Bardala village in northern Jordan Valley, between 23 and 24 April, Israeli settlers reportedly injured seven Palestinians with live ammunition and set fire to residential tents and livestock shelters, while Israeli security forces delayed access of Palestinian ambulances to the area. On 17 April in Al-Rakeez village of Massafer Yatta, South Hebron Hills, a 60-year-old Palestinian man had his leg amputated after Israeli settlers shot him following an attempt to move a fence they had constructed around his land. Following the incident, Israeli security forces arrived at the scene and arrested the man’s 16-year-old son, claiming he had assaulted military personnel.

Israeli security forces continued the practice of unlawful killings and large-scale operations in the Northern West Bank

Over the past week, Israeli security forces killed three Palestinians who were throwing stones, including two children. This raised 192 the number of children killed by Israeli security forces in the West Bank since 7 October 2023. On 23 April, Israeli security forces opened fire at a group of children and killed a 12-year-old Palestinian boy with a bullet in the back after they threw stones at military armoured vehicles in Yamoun town, Jenin. On 17 April, Israeli security forces killed two Palestinians, including a 16-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man, who were throwing stones at a highway in Osarin village, Nablus.

Lethal force may only be used if it is strictly unavoidable to protect life; if other, less extreme measures could be used to achieve this objective, then the use of such lethal force constitutes an arbitrary deprivation of life.

Meanwhile, the large-scale operation in the northern West Bank entered its third month, with Israeli security forces continuing to prevent Palestinians from returning to their homes in the refugee camps of Jenin and Tulkarm, while carrying out widespread destruction coupled with the creation of pathways and barriers inside the camps and conducting daily raids on Palestinian towns and villages. With every day this operation continues, the prospect that Palestinians in affected camps will be able to return to their homes is diminishing, risking the permanent displacement of Palestinians from key West Bank population centres, amounting to forcible transfer. 

The UN Human Rights Office is alarmed by the breakdown of public order in Gaza, with recent allegations of killings and unnecessary or disproportionate use of force in crowd control by local police. The siege of Gaza has now entered its second month as the humanitarian situation grows even more dire.

Israel’s continued attacks on Gaza have served to dismantle and destroy Gaza’s governance and law enforcement structures, contributing to a deterioration of public order that threatens the safety of Palestinians and their access to basic services and life-saving humanitarian aid. The situation is further exacerbated by Israel’s complete closure of crossings into Gaza, preventing entry of any goods or essential supplies as families struggle to find the basic necessities such as food and water.

As vital aid becomes scarcer and people become more desperate, our Office has received reports of several incidents alleging the unnecessary or disproportionate use of force by local police against crowds seeking food. On 1 April, a Palestinian police officer allegedly discharged his firearm while attempting to control a crowd at a flour shop in Deir al Balah, killing a Palestinian man. Later, the family of the victim reportedly apprehended and killed the unarmed police officer in broad daylight. On 2 April, in a similar incident, local security personnel reportedly shot and killed a Palestinian man while managing aid distribution to a crowd at a warehouse in At Tuffah, Gaza City.

Of further concern are allegations of the arbitrary detention, torture and killing of a young Palestinian man, raising concerns of extrajudicial execution. On 28 March, armed Palestinian men reportedly took the victim from his shelter in Tal al Hawa in Gaza City, allegedly because of his participation in demonstrations criticizing Hamas and calling for an end to the war that took place in several locations in Gaza between 25 and 27 March. A few hours later, the family found him stripped, handcuffed, blindfolded, and beaten with a rope around his neck in front of a hospital in the neighbourhood. He succumbed to his injuries shortly afterwards. There are also reports that other individuals have been summoned by the local de facto authorities on account of their participation in the demonstrations.

Such killings and the use of excessive force in civilian crowd control and undue restrictions on the freedoms of peaceful assembly and expression, including arbitrary detention, ill-treatment and torture are unacceptable. While recognizing the challenges faced by the law enforcement system in Gaza, due to the systematic destruction by Israel, we remind any remaining de facto authorities including local law enforcement in Gaza of their obligation to comply with international human rights law standards on the use of force, including in crowd control, and underscore the need for prompt and effective investigations into any allegation of unlawful killings and other violations of human rights law. We further urge Israel to immediately fulfil its obligations by taking all feasible steps to ensure public order and civil life in Gaza, in particular by respecting, protecting and ensuring the human rights of the population, including by immediately facilitating the entry of aid and assistance and refraining from attacking Gaza’s justice and civilian law enforcement systems. 

The UN Human Rights office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is horrified by the ongoing killing of hundreds of Palestinian civilians in Gaza since the resumption of large-scale Israeli bombardment on 18 March. As of 20 March, at least 506 Palestinians were killed, including 200 children and at least 112 women according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.

Airstrikes and artillery shelling have struck homes, schools serving as shelters, and tents of internally displaced people — a pattern extensively documented by the UN Human Rights Office since October of 2023. The Israeli military appear to have resumed the practice of using explosive weapons with wide-area effects in densely populated areas. Across Gaza, since 18 March, the UN Human Rights office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory recorded at least three incidents where more than twenty fatalities were reported, and at least eight incidents with more than ten fatalities. Using explosive weapons with wide- area effects in such densely populated areas will almost certainly have indiscriminate effects and is very likely to be in violation of international humanitarian law rules on the conduct of hostilities.

Conducting hostilities using such means and methods in densely populated areas causes civilian casualties at a mass scale and is not consistent with Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law, including abiding by the fundamental principles of distinction, proportionality, and precautions in attack.

On 20 March, Hamas’s military wing, Al Qassam Brigades, announced firing rockets on Tel Aviv. No casualties were reported. The targeting of civilians or launching of indiscriminate attacks amounts to a war crime.

Israel is again issuing forced displacement orders across Gaza and imposing severe movement restrictions. On 19 March, the Israeli military announced redeployment in Netzarim corridor which separates the north of Gaza from the south and prohibited Palestinians from moving through Salah Ad Deen road. The Israeli military ordered all Palestinians residing in areas located in the vicinity of the fence, described as “dangerous combat zones”, to leave to “known shelters” in western Gaza City and Khan Yunis.

The return of heavy bombardment and mass displacement orders indicates a resurgence of the pattern which has already forced 90 per cent of Palestinians in Gaza into displacement before the ceasefire, often more than once. The devastating impact of mass forced displacement will likely be exacerbated by Israel’s blocking of humanitarian aid, the already catastrophic shelter crisis in Gaza, and the lack of access to life- saving services.

Statements by the Israeli government further heighten fears about the deliberate flouting international law prohibitions and further collective punishment.

On the evening of 19 March, a statement by the Israeli Minister of Defence addressed to “residents of Gaza” threatened “significantly worse” strikes if hostages are not released and if Hamas is not expelled from Gaza, stressing that Gaza residents “will pay the price”. The statement referred to the “option” of “relocating to other parts of the world” if Palestinians “wish” to do so after the demands he outlined are met.

“The alternative”, the statement continued, “is utter destruction and devastation.”

Other statements by Israeli officials explicitly said that one of the goals of the renewed bombardment aims to “damage Hamas’s governmental capabilities” through targeting mid-level and senior-ranking members in Hamas’s Political Bureau, including officials in the civilian de-facto authorities— who, under international law, are civilians entitled to protection except if, and for such time, they directly participate in hostilities. Some civilian officials were reportedly killed with their entire families and children, including Ahmed Al Hatta, Undersecretary for the Ministry of Justice, who was killed with his wife and six children.

Violations by one party to the conflict never justify violations by the other. The targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure across Gaza and any measures constituting forcible transfer of the civilian population or collective punishment are violations of international law and are war crimes.

The heightened Israeli siege since 2 March, which has prevented basic necessities from reaching civilians amounts to collective punishment. We recall that in its March 2024 binding order, the International Court of Justice unanimously ordered Israel to take all necessary and effective measures to ensure the unhindered provision at scale of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to Palestinians throughout Gaza, to conform with its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

Israel is legally bound to immediately end and punish breaches of international law, and as the occupying power, to protect Palestinian civilians from violence, ensure the provision of all necessities of life, and ensure they can return to their homes in safety and dignity.

We repeat our call on member states to take decisive action to end hostilities in Gaza and ensure accountability for the grave breaches of international law committed over the past year and a half. 

Remarks to the press- as delivered

Before speaking to you today about our latest report on the occupied West Bank, I would like to start with the tragic developments overnight in Gaza, where we are hearing reports of hundreds being killed, many of them civilians, in a wave of Israeli strikes.

According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, 326 Palestinians were killed, including many women and children. The Israeli military had already killed at least 106 Palestinians since the ceasefire started in January up to last night, mostly in and around “no-go” zones along the edges of Gaza.

The Israeli military reportedly hit residential buildings, schools and IDP camps - a trend that has been documented extensively by our Office since October 2023. We are again seeing the scenes of mutilated bodies of children, and bodies wrapped in shrouds. The Israeli military also issued a displacement order from several parts of Gaza- indicating a return to a pattern which led to the forced displacement of 90 per cent of the Palestinian population in Gaza, often several times. It is unacceptable, even unimaginable, to once again find ourselves talking about this instead of supporting a path towards meaningful recovery and sustainable peace.

The situation is compounded by the blockade on Gaza. For over two weeks now, Israel has closed all crossings and prevented the entry of humanitarian aid, fuel, and all other supplies. We are also concerned about reported plans to cut off the little that remains of the water supply. With no fuel, no electricity, and no aid, how can bakeries, water desalination plants, and other critical infrastructure operate? How long before all food runs out and we’re again facing hunger and starvation?

We once again remind Israel of its obligation to comply with international humanitarian law’s fundamental principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack. Any targeting of civilians not directly participating in hostilities is a war crime and must stop, immediately; the blockade of Gaza amounts to collective punishment and must stop, immediately; and the use of starvation as a weapon of war is a crime under international law.

Simply, this violence, and the killing must stop immediately. The hostages must be released. Those arbitrarily detained must also be freed.

Now to the report we are putting before you today, which points to another deeply concerning trajectory taking place in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Israel is taking serious and accelerated steps to annex more and more parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory in violation of international law.

In the West Bank, settlements are expanding at an alarming rate. This is coinciding with a series of legislative and policy steps that are increasingly allowing for land appropriation from Palestinians and further facilitating the extension of Israeli sovereignty and laws over the West Bank.

The rampant forcible displacement of Palestinians from their homes and lands in the West Bank further exacerbates the situation. We are witnessing a violent and ever-expanding Israeli operation that started last January in the northern parts of the West Bank, particularly Jenin, Tulkarem and Tubas. This operation has so far killed 59 Palestinians, displaced tens of thousands, and emptied entire refugee camps.

Displacement is further fueled by continuously increasing home demolitions and evictions, settler violence that can no longer be separated from state violence, and daily appropriation of Palestinian land on alleged “security grounds” only to be later allocated to serve settlers.

We have a clear legal pathway to follow here, confirmed last year by the International Court of Justice. The occupation of the Palestinian territory must end as rapidly as possible, all Israeli settlers must be evacuated, and all settlement of this territory must cease immediately. The international community has a strong mandate to take meaningful action to prevent annexation and ensure Palestinians’ right to self-determination. Member States must act now.

Across the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Palestinian people continue to increasingly grapple with Israel’s complete disregard of its obligations under international law to protect Palestinians and their chances of building a future that fulfills their rights to a dignified life and to self-determination.

Precarious situation in Gaza:

In Gaza, since the ceasefire agreement entered into effect on 19 January, Israeli military reportedly killed 58 Palestinians including ten children and three women, mostly in the vicinity of the Israeli imposed “nogo” zones including the Netzarim and Philadelphi corridors, as well as eastern Rafah, Khan Younis, and Beit Hanun. Many of those killed were reportedly attempting to check on their homes. Targeting Palestinians who are not actively participating in hostilities is a war crime regardless of the Israeli-imposed movement restrictions.

For the fifth consecutive day, Israel has blocked humanitarian aid as well as all other goods and supplies, including fuel, from entering Gaza, causing prices to soar and anxiety to spread over the possible return to bombardment and starvation. This is coinciding with the start of the Holy month of Ramadan, further heightening the stress of Palestinian families, most of whom remain displaced. Lack of adequate shelter, warm clothing and healthcare services led to the death of at least eight babies in the past two weeks from the cold, three of whom were reportedly newborns.

As the occupying power, Israel has a legal obligation to ensure the provision of the necessities of life for Palestinians living under its control. This includes food, clean water, shelter, and adequate healthcare. Any denial of the entry of the necessities of life for civilians may amount to collective punishment. The use of hunger and starvation as a weapon of war is a war crime.

Additionally, efforts to remove tons of rubble and waste are greatly hampered by the lack of the required heavy equipment and fuel. Palestinian families and civil defence workers continue to extract bodies from under the rubble — at least 808 bodies recovered since the ceasefire started.

Large-scale West Bank operation continues:

In the West Bank, an Israeli security operation continues to ravage northern communities, killed dozens, forcibly displaced about 40,000 Palestinians, emptying entire refugee camps. The Israeli Minister of Defense told media that Israeli security forces will remain in parts of the emptied territory for a year and will prevent residents from returning. The operation started on 21 January and preliminarily targeted Jenin, then extended to include Tubas and Tulkarem governorates. So far, Israeli security forces have killed 54 Palestinians in the course of this operation, including eight children, and two women. Outside these governorates, during the past two weeks, Israeli security forces killed five other Palestinians including a 12-year-old boy shot in the back in Hebron.

The killings increasingly demonstrate an alarming disregard for Palestinian lives with high prevalence of unlawful killings. As there are no hostilities in the West Bank, the international human rights law standards on the use of force in law enforcement operations apply. Instead, Israel now routinely resorts to using tactics and weapons developed for war fighting, including the deployment of airstrikes and tanks.

Alarming incidents reported over recent weeks include Israeli security forces opening fire at a house in Jenin, killing a two-day old baby girl inside; shooting and killing an eight-month pregnant woman trying to flee Nur Shams refugee camp in which an operation by the Israeli security forces was ongoing; the killing of a 13-year-old girl in the courtyard of her house also in Jenin; and the killing of a ten-year old boy while standing in front of a building in Tulkarem.

Since January, three members of Israeli security forces were killed by Palestinian armed men in the West Bank or inside Israel. A 17-year-old Israeli girl succumbed to injuries sustained when a Palestinian man rammed a car into a crowd of Israelis in north Israel last week. The attacker was subsequently shot and killed.

Coinciding with the operation, restrictions of movement have also dramatically increased, strangling communities and preventing thousands of students and workers in northern areas from reaching their schools and workplaces.

According to Israeli media, Israeli security forces are planning to limit the number of worshippers from the West Bank allowed to access Al Aqsa Compound in East Jerusalem for Friday prayers during Ramadan to only 10,000. This is a significant drop from the tens of thousands who gathered for Friday prayers in Al Aqsa Mosque in previous years. Ahead of the first Ramadan Friday prayer tomorrow, Israeli media is reporting movement restrictions around East Jerusalem, including the deployment of thousands of security officers and the closing of key roads, which is likely to have a severe impact on freedom of movement.

Steps to consolidate annexation and forced transfer:

Of particular concern is the mass forced displacement in large swaths of the Occupied Palestinian Territory. In Gaza, Israeli forces’ continued presence, and the constant killing of Palestinians around the Israelidesignated no-go zones is effectively preventing Palestinian residents from returning to their homes in these areas.

In the newly emptied parts of the West Bank, houses are being reportedly destroyed. At least 120 buildings in Jenin and 41 in Tulkarem have been demolished so far, apparently to make space for the creation of wide streets that would allow easier passage to military forces. Israeli security forces also announced that they will imminently demolish 16 houses in Nur Shams refugee camp. Signs are being erected that give freshly bulldozed streets and junctions Hebrew names in Jenin and Tulkarem.

In parallel, increasing numbers of Palestinian herding and farming communities are being displaced from Area C and other fertile areas of the West Bank, forced to leave by state and settler violence, restricted access to land and pastures, and discriminatory policies.

These steps are being taken against a backdrop of a barrage of statements from Israeli officials and lawmakers promoting further consolidation, under Israeli law, of the annexation of large parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Statements also call for the forcible transfer and deportation of Palestinians in Gaza.

Earlier this week, the Ministerial Committee at the Israeli Knesset preliminarily approved a bill to extend Israeli law, jurisdiction and administration to settlements around Jerusalem, which would further cement annexation. This threatens to further fragment the Occupied West Bank, further isolate the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, and complicate any future efforts to fulfil Palestinians’ right to self-determination. Israeli media quoted lawmakers who explained the bill is a significant step towards extending Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank.

Measures to forcibly displace Palestinians and consolidate the annexation of their land fly in the face of Israel’s obligations under international law, including its duty to end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and to immediately evacuate all settlements as affirmed by the International Court of Justice. These measures must stop and be reversed, and Palestinians across the occupied territory must be allowed to return to their homes in safety and in dignity.

Accountability must be prioritised for violations committed by all duty bearers, including Israel, Palestinian armed groups, and the Palestinian Authority as an essential step towards a just and sustainable peace.

The UN Human Rights Office condemns the intensifying Israeli operation in the northern West Bank and calls for the immediate halt to this alarming wave of violence and mass displacement.

Unlawful killings

Israeli security forces have so far killed 44 Palestinians, many of them unarmed and not posing an imminent threat to life or of serious injury, since the start of the operation on 21 January which has affected Jenin, Tulkarem, and Tubas governorates, and four refugee camps in these areas. Among those killed are five children and two women. One of the women killed, 23-year-old Sundus Shalabi, was fleeing Nour Shams refugee camp with her husband on 9 February when Israeli security forces shot at their car, critically injuring her husband. When she left the car in search of safety, she was shot and killed with her unborn child. According to Israeli media reports, an investigation by the Israeli military preliminarily confirmed that Sundus and her husband, Yazan, were unarmed and posed no threat to life. 
In Tulkarem city, a 10-year-boy, Saddam Hussein Rajab, was shot in the chest by Israeli security forces and succumbed to his injuries on 7 February. Circulating video evidence showed the moment he was shot while simply standing in front of a building.

This is part of an expanding pattern of Israel’s unlawful use of force in the West Bank where there are no active hostilities, and a continuously increasing number of apparently unlawful killings documented by the UN Human Rights Office.

Mass displacement

The operation is also raising concerns about levels of mass displacement unprecedented in the Occupied West Bank for decades. According to UNRWA, the Israeli operation has so far displaced nearly 40,000 Palestinians.

The UN Human Rights Office received daily reports from displaced residents describing a pattern where they are led out of their homes by Israeli security forces and drones under the threat of violence. They are then forced out of their towns with snipers positioned on rooftops around them and houses in their neighbourhoods used as posts by Israeli security forces.

Aseel, a 29-year-old mother of three, has been displaced three times so far. First from her home in Jenin by Palestinian security forces last December when they were engaged in an operation in Jenin, then by Israeli security forces when she attempted to return in January. Her house was burnt down shortly afterwards according to photos shared by some of her neighbours. After fleeing to Tulkarem to stay with her family, Israeli security forces again forced her out end of January when the ongoing Israeli operation extended from Jenin to neighbouring refugee camps.

Another young woman said that she fled her home in Tulkarem in panic—barefoot and carrying her one-and four-year-old children—when she heard Israeli security forces threatening via loudspeakers on jeeps and drones that anyone who did not immediately leave would be shot. She pleaded with officers to go back inside for her youngest’s heart medications or to at least put on shoes.

“Leave this place and forget the camp. You will never return. Move now before we destroy it completely,” was the answer she reported in her testimony.

Other eyewitness testimonies also recounted similar statements by Israeli security force members who reportedly told displaced residents to “forget” and “say goodbye” to their homes, stressing they would not be allowed to return. One resident reported being told to “go to Jordan.”

Photos received from Jenin refugee camp on Thursday show freshly bulldozed roads with new signs apparently giving several streets Hebrew names. This is happening while statements by Israeli officials persist in communicating open plans to annex the region, empty it of Palestinians, and expel them out of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

In this regard, we reiterate that any forcible transfer in or deportation of people from occupied territory is strictly prohibited and amounts to a crime under international law.

Legal obligations

Displaced Palestinians must be allowed to return to their homes. The killing of each and every Palestinian must be promptly, effectively, and transparently investigated, and perpetrators of unlawful killings must be held to account. Military commanders and other superiors may be held responsible for the crimes committed by their subordinates if they fail to take all necessary and reasonable measures to prevent or punish unlawful killings.

Furthermore, Israel must comply with its other obligations under international law, which include ending its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible and evacuating all West Bank settlements immediately. In the meantime, as the occupying power, Israel must ensure the protection of Palestinians, the provision of basic services and needs, and the respect of Palestinians’ full range of human rights.