The UN has warned that escalating Israeli occupier attacks in the occupied West Bank are mounting "systematic pressure" on Palestinians to leave their homes and communities, with humanitarian officials documenting an alarming rise in incidents.
Citing the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric at a news conference on Monday reported that "air strikes and shelling hit residential areas in Gaza, as well as a fatal shooting by Israeli forces and other attacks by settlers in the West Bank" over the weekend.
Dujarric also pointed to an incident where Israeli occupiers torched two vehicles early on Monday in the southern West Bank, "where neighbours managed to extinguish the fire and save the family."
"Such incidents have become frequent, and they put systematic pressure on Palestinians to leave their homes and their communities," he stressed.
Warning that the attacks also "result in fatalities, injuries, damage and displacement, deepening humanitarian needs," Dujarric said: "Perpetrators of these unlawful attacks must be held to account."
Attacks in the occupied West Bank have escalated in recent weeks, with eight Palestinians reportedly killed by occupier gunfire since late February, according to the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission.
About 750,000 illegal Israeli settlers live in hundreds of settlements across the occupied West Bank, including around 250,000 in the occupied East Jerusalem. Settlers carry out frequent attacks on Palestinians that rights groups say aim to displace them forcibly.
Violent attacks have intensified across the occupied West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, encompassing killings, demolitions, displacement and settlement expansion.
The Israeli attacks have since then claimed at least 1,136 Palestinian lives, wounded at least 11,700 others, and led to the arrest of roughly 22,000 people, according to official Palestinian figures, amid international warnings that Israel may move to annex the territory.
Dujarric further expressed the UN's concern over Israeli "restrictions imposed on our humanitarian operations."
"Today, international NGOs confirmed their intention to proceed with a petition to the Israeli High Court of Justice challenging the new Israeli registration system, which further restricts their ability to operate, not only in Israel, but also in the occupied Palestinian territory," he said.
