UN report documents 24,300 new Israeli housing units in occupied West Bank
Geneva:
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Friday that Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory have expanded by a record amount and threaten to eliminate any real possibility of establishing a Palestinian state.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said the growth of Israeli settlements amounted to Israel transferring its own population, which was a war crime. The US Biden administration said last month that settlements were “incompatible” with international law after Israel announced new housing plans in the occupied West Bank.
“Settler violence and settlement-related violations have reached alarming new levels and threaten to eliminate any real possibility of establishing a viable Palestinian state,” Turk said in a statement accompanying the 16-page report. sex.”
The report, based on the UN’s own monitoring as well as other sources, documented the construction of 24,300 new Israeli housing units in the occupied West Bank in the year to the end of October 2023, which it said was the highest since monitoring began in 2017.
The report also stated that, especially since Hamas launched its deadly attack on Israel on October 7, the intensity, severity and regularity of violence against Palestinians by Israeli settlers and the state in the occupied West Bank has increased dramatically.
Israel claims a biblical birthright to the land where settlers are expanding. Its military said it was conducting counter-terrorism operations in the West Bank, targeting suspected militants.
