The occupied West Bank is witnessing a “silent war” amid record levels of violence by the Israeli military and illegal settlers since October 2023, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Sunday.
“Tens of thousands of people remain displaced a year after the launch of Israel’s operation ‘Iron Wall’ - the largest displacement since 1967. Their homes are now gradually demolished to prevent their return,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said on X.
On January 21, the Israeli army launched a large-scale military assault in the northern occupied West Bank, killing scores and displacing thousands.
Lazzarini said more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied territory since October 2023, almost a quarter of them children.
“Attacks by Israeli settlers continue unabated, with Palestinian communities being constantly intimidated, uprooted + their livelihoods ruined,” he said. “Impunity reigns.”
The UNRWA chief stressed that the agency still plays a key role in providing emergency aid in the occupied West Bank “despite immense challenges”.
“While global attention has been focused on Gaza, the flagrant disregard for international humanitarian law in the West Bank has been normalised. It has to stop before it is too late.”
The Israeli forces and illegal settlers have escalated their assaults in the occupied West Bank since the outbreak of Tel Aviv’s war in Gaza in October 2023.
According to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, an official body, illegal Israeli settlers carried out nearly 4,723 attacks against Palestinians and property in the occupied West Bank in 2025, killing 14 Palestinians and forcing the displacement of 13 Bedouin communities of 1,090 people.
Official figures also showed that at least 1,110 Palestinians have been killed and 11,500 others injured in attacks by the Israeli forces and illegal settlers in the territory since October 2023.
The International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal in a landmark opinion in July 2024 and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem.
