The UN’s Volker Turk made the remarks on Friday, warning that the situation was deteriorating sharply due to the use of heavy weaponry, urging Israel to stop the violence, Aljazeera reported.
He added that the raid was a “major intensification of the use of weaponry more generally associated with the conduct of armed hostilities, rather than a law enforcement situation”.
He called the air strikes with helicopter gunships a “major intensification of the use of weaponry more generally associated with the conduct of armed hostilities, rather than a law enforcement situation”.
Turk called on Israel to abide by international law, also adding that the current situation serves “only to drive Israelis and Palestinians deeper into an abyss”.
“Israel must urgently reset its policies and actions in the West Bank in line with international human rights standards, including protecting and respecting the right to life,” Turk said.
Israeli settlers rampaged through several Palestinian towns in the West Bank on Tuesday night, torching cars, setting farmland on fire, and vandalizing homes, in scenes reminiscent of a pogrom earlier this year in the village of Huwara.
On Monday, a large-scale Israeli military incursion into the Jenin refugee camp left seven people dead, including two 15-year-olds. At least 91 people were wounded during the nine-hour raid.
That confrontation saw Israel use helicopter gunships in the West Bank for the first time in decades, and Palestinian fighters detonated a large roadside bomb under an Israeli armored vehicle.
At least 170 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers since the start of the year.
RHM/PR