UN experts condemn renewed violence, Israeli killings of Palestinians in West Bank

By Peter Kenny

GENEVA (AA) - UN experts on Friday condemned renewed Israeli attacks against the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank that killed at least nine Palestinians.

The experts urged the international community to react without delay to stop the violence and ensure accountability.

"We deplore the Israeli army's latest violent attack against the Jenin Refugee Camp and the killing and wounding of Palestinians on Thursday," they said. "It shows a dangerous trajectory of violence in the occupied West Bank, continuing the alarming upward trend from 2022."

They said no violence would occur if Israel ended its "illegal, half-century-old occupation immediately" and unconditionally, as required by international law.

Israeli forces raided the refugee camp early Jan. 26 in the north of the occupied West Bank.

Experts said they fired live ammunition, killing at least nine Palestinians, including an elderly woman and two children.

More than 20 people were reportedly injured and four remain in critical condition.

- Highest number killed since 2005

"While circumstances of the raid and the number of persons killed and injured are still being verified," UN experts noted the number was the highest killed in a single operation in the West Bank since 2005.

A total of 28 Palestinians have been killed in 2023 by Israeli forces and two more by settlers in the occupied West Bank.

Experts said the latest attack brings the death toll to more than one Palestinian each day in 2023.

"The international community cannot and should not tolerate what appears to reflect Israel's deliberate policy and practice of using lethal force without regard for limits set by international law," they said.

The UN experts expressed dismay that 2022 had already been the deadliest year in the occupied West Bank, with 152 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces. Impunity continues to prevail.

The Jenin refugee camp, often portrayed by Israel as the hotbed of Palestinian resistance, has been subject to frequent incursions and raids by Israeli forces, resulting in arbitrary arrests, killings and collective punishment of many of its 14,000 residents.

During the second intifada, Israeli forces killed at least 52 Palestinians, destroyed more than 400 homes and damaged hundreds more, rendering more than a quarter of the population homeless.

The experts include Francesca Albanese, special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967; Morris Tidball-Binz, special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions and Fionnuala D. Ní Aoláin, special rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights.