“The UN Human Rights Office condemns the intensifying Israeli operation in the northern West Bank and calls for the immediate halt to this alarming wave of violence and mass displacement,” said a press release by the UN on Friday.
The OHCHR referred to “unlawful killings” of Palestinians during the Israeli offensive which began on January 21, targeting Jenin, Tulkarm, and Tubas governorates as well as four refugee camps in those areas.
It said that at least 44 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the offensive, many of them “unarmed and not posing an imminent threat to life or of serious injury.”
“This is part of an expanding pattern of Israel’s unlawful use of force in the West Bank where there are no active hostilities, and a continuously increasing number of apparently unlawful killings documented by the UN Human Rights Office.”
The OHCHR also condemned mass displacement “unprecedented in the occupied West Bank for decades”, saying that almost 40,000 Palestinians have been displaced as a result of the Israeli military operation, citing the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
Mass displacement of Palestinians from the northern West Bank is a source of growing concern, the UN Rights Office said.
It reiterated that displaced Palestinians must be allowed to return to their homes, while perpetrators of unlawful killings must be held to account. The office urged Israel to fulfill its obligations under international law and end its “unlawful” presence in the occupied Palestinian territory.
SD/IRN
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