A senior UN official expressed alarm Tuesday at the “rapidly deteriorating” situation in the occupied West Bank, denouncing the escalation of violence, particularly by Israeli settlers against Palestinians.
“In the past week, the escalating violence in the West Bank has resulted in civilian casualties, displacement, damage to property, and growing insecurity across affected communities,” Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN’s deputy special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, told the Security Council.
“Israeli settler attacks against Palestinian communities, homes, places of worship and civilian infrastructure have persisted at alarming levels,” he said.
Alakbarov urged the Israeli government “to take immediate and effective measures to prevent settler violence, protect Palestinian communities, and ensure that all perpetrators are held accountable.”
The “rapidly deteriorating” the situation in the West Bank “is compounding the already alarming conditions across the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, with a wider escalation increasingly likely unless immediate steps are taken to reverse course,” he said.
