The UN denounces attacks on the West Bank population without precedent since 2005 in its latest report

MADRID, 4 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The latest report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) includes the death of ten Palestinians in an Israeli raid on Nablus on February 22 and highlights that it is the deadliest Israeli operation in the West Bank since 2005.

The Report on the Protection of Civilians includes incidents that occurred between February 14 and 27, including the death of another Palestinian from exposure to toxic tear gas, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.

In total, in these two weeks, 16 Palestinian deaths were recorded at the hands of Israeli soldiers or settlers, bringing the number of Palestinian deaths so far this year to 63, including three minors. Another 1,089 civilians have been injured.

After this period, we must add a Palestinian who died on March 1 from injuries sustained the day before by shots fired by Israeli forces in an incursion into the Aqbat Jaber refugee camp in Jericho, and the death of a 15-year-old teenager. years killed by the actions of Israeli forces in Azun, near Qalqilia.

Eight other Palestinians were injured in attacks by Israeli settlers, which have caused significant material damage, such as the uprooting of 300 trees.

Meanwhile, the Israeli authorities have demolished, confiscated or forced to demolish 66 buildings in East Jerusalem and Area C of the West Bank, including 18 homes, according to the OCHA report. Up to 22 of these buildings were financed with funds from humanitarian donations. The result is 60 displaced Palestinians, 29 of them minors. Another 200 Palestinians have been affected.

February 2023 has been the month with the most demolitions in East Jerusalem since April 2019: 36 structures have been destroyed, well above the 11 recorded per month on average in recent years, according to OCHA.

These 2023 demolitions include the destruction of six homes as a punitive measure against the families of those allegedly responsible for the attacks. In 2022 there were eleven punitive demolitions and three in 2021. "Punitive demolitions are collective punishment and as such are illegal under International Law because they attack the families of a person responsible or allegedly responsible" for attacks, OCHA highlighted.

The international organization also denounces the restrictions imposed on the movement of Palestinians throughout the West Bank and gives as an example the total closure of the town of Huwara, near Nablus, on February 26 in response to an attack in which two Israeli settlers died. More than 19,000 Palestinians were locked up. The following day, 50,000 Palestinians were affected in the West Bank city of Jericho.