Nearly 2,000 Palestinians have been displaced due to violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank and almost half have been forced from their homes since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, the United Nations said.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), settler violence has increased significantly in recent weeks since October 7, from an average of three incidents per day to the current average of seven per day.
“During this period, OCHA recorded 171 settler attacks on Palestinians,” also increasing “pressure on Palestinians to leave” in multiple cases of “intimidation, invasion and intimidation,” the statement said.
Violence by settlers (in many cases armed), in addition to increasing restrictions on movement, has forced the forcible displacement of 15 agro-pastoralist communities in the West Bank – approximately 828 people, including 313 children – since the start of the war. in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Islamic group Hamas.
On the other hand, “access restrictions by Israeli authorities have increased throughout the West Bank, including East Jerusalem” and are “particularly severe in areas close to Israeli settlements” and in the areas adjacent to Israel’s West Bank separation wall , which have been occupied ever since. 2022.
OCHA further warns that “settlers also imposed restrictions on movement and blocked access roads to Palestinian communities,” which it describes as “measures that limited Palestinians’ access to essential services and livelihoods.”
Many of the pastoralist communities rely on humanitarian aid, “including health and education services”, many of which “had to be suspended” due to the tightening of restrictions.
The total number of Palestinians displaced by increasing settler violence since 2022 now stands at 1,933. According to OCHA, Israel’s home demolitions have also led to the displacement of an additional 2,400 people between 2022 and 2023.
The United Nations information confirms complaints voiced this week by several Israeli non-governmental human rights organizations, which warn that settlers are acting with near-total impunity and “state support” to attack Palestinians in the West Bank and their displacement into the West Bank. areas nationally.
Source: DN
