The United Nations says 2022 has been the deadliest year for the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, based on fatality count the UN started in 2005.
That is according to the biweekly Protection of Civilians Report published by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Palestine.
In the most recent incidents of violence, Israeli forces shot dead at least 18 Palestinians and injured more than 200 across the West Bank since October 25.
Human rights groups say they have documented several cases of Israeli soldiers gunning down Palestinian protesters across the occupied territories.
In addition to the killings, Israeli regime troops restricted the movement of Palestinians in several locations and neighborhoods across the West Bank.
Israeli authorities also demolished or confiscated 54 structures in East al-Quds and Area C of the West Bank, which constitutes about 61 percent of the territory and is under full Israeli military control.
Israel routinely demolishes Palestinian houses in the West Bank and East al-Quds, claiming the structures have been built without permits, which are virtually impossible to obtain. They also sometimes order Palestinian owners to demolish their own houses or pay the demolition costs.
Israel has already occupied thousands of dunums of Palestinian agricultural land to construct and expand new settler units in various areas in the West Bank. The olive harvest season was disrupted by at least more than 30 incidents of violence by Israeli settlers escorted by regime forces across the occupied territories.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates has called on the international community to take on its responsibilities, and make serious steps toward stopping the Israeli regime’s crimes as well as settler violence, known as ‘price tag’ attacks, across the occupied territories.
More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and al-Quds.
All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. The United Nations Security Council has condemned Israel’s settlement activities in the occupied territories in several resolutions.