GENEVA: The UN rights chief demanded Tuesday an end to surging violence in the occupied West Bank, saying it was “unfathomable” that more than 500 Palestinians had been killed there since October 7.
Volker Turk said at least 505 Palestinians had been killed in the West Bank by the Israeli military and by West Bank settlers since the war in nearby Gaza erupted nearly eight months ago.
Palestinian officials have given a toll of at least 523.
Two dozen Israelies, including eight soldiers, have also been killed in West Bank clashes or alleged attacks by Palestinians from the West Bank during the same period, he said.
“As if the tragic events in Israel and then Gaza over the past eight months were not enough, the people of the occupied West Bank are also being subjected to day-after-day of unprecedented bloodshed,” he said in a statement.
“It is unfathomable that so many lives have been taken in such a wanton fashion.”
Turk insisted “the killing, destruction and widespread human rights violations are unacceptable, and must cease immediately.”
“Israel must not only adopt but enforce rules of engagement that are fully in line with applicable human rights norms and standards,” he said, demanding accountability for all alleged unlawful killings.
Turk decried the “pervasive impunity for such crimes” in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, and which had seen a surge in violence even before October 7.
He pointed to a case over the weekend in which Israeli forces shot dead a teenager and critically injured another who later died near the Aqabat Jabr refugee camp near Jericho in the West Bank.
He said CCTV footage indicated that the boys were shot at a distance of 70 meters while running away after throwing stones and/or Molotov cocktails toward a military post.
Turk’s statement said that the Israeli military had often used lethal force “as a first resort against Palestinian protesters ... in cases where those shot clearly did not represent an imminent threat to life.”
Turk warned that the violence “against the backdrop of the scale of killing and destruction continuing in Gaza, have instilled fear and insecurity among Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.”
The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Militants also took 251 hostages, 120 of whom remain in Gaza, including 41 the army says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory bombardment and ground offensive have to date killed 36,550 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to data provided by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
UN decries ‘unfathomable’ numbers killed in West Bank since October 7
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UN decries ‘unfathomable’ numbers killed in West Bank since October 7
- Volker Turk: ‘The killing, destruction and widespread human rights violations are unacceptable, and must cease immediately’
- Israel’s retaliatory bombardment and ground offensive have to date killed 36,550 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians
Israel blocks a Canadian delegation from visiting the occupied West Bank
- The Israeli statement said The Canadian-Muslim Vote receives the vast majority of its funding from Islamic Relief Canada, a subsidiary of Islamic Relief Worldwide that is listed as a terror entity by Israel
OTTAWA, Ontario: Israel on Tuesday blocked a private Canadian delegation that included six members of Parliament from entering the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli Embassy in Canada said the group was denied entry because of its links to Islamic Relief Worldwide, a nongovernmental organization that Israel lists as a terror group.
Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand said in a post on social media that Canada has expressed its “objections regarding the mistreatment of these Canadians.”
Ontario Member of Parliament Iqra Khalid, from Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal party, said she was part of the delegation and was shoved several times by Israeli border officials.
She said she was pushed after trying to check on a member of the roughly 30-person delegation who was pulled aside for additional questioning after the group had been at the Allenby border crossing between Jordan and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Khalid said the border officials were able to see she was a lawmaker as they had taken her special passport, which looks different from a standard Canadian document.
The Israeli Embassy statement said Israel “will not allow the entry of organizations and individuals who are associated with designated terror entities.”
The delegation, sponsored by the group The Canadian-Muslim Vote, had planned to meet with displaced Palestinians in the West Bank, where the Israeli government recently approved the construction of 764 new homes in Jewish settlements.
The Israeli statement said The Canadian-Muslim Vote receives the vast majority of its funding from Islamic Relief Canada, a subsidiary of Islamic Relief Worldwide that is listed as a terror entity by Israel.
In Ottawa, the National Council of Canadian Muslims said the Israeli government’s refusal to allow Canadian parliamentarians into the country raises serious concerns about transparency and accountability.
British Columbia New Democrat Member of Parliament Jenny Kwan said the entire delegation had electronic travel authorizations to enter the West Bank but they were revoked “on the day of our arrival.”
In September, Canada joined several other countries in recognizing a Palestinian state, a significant shift in its policy and a move that came despite opposition from the United States. At the time, Canada said it hopes the recognition paves the way for peace based on two states living side by side.
