LONDON (Reuters) – Israeli operations in the West Bank have killed at least 12 Palestinians since Tuesday and could threaten the newly agreed ceasefire in Gaza, United Nations Human Rights office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan said on Friday.
Hundreds of Jenin residents fled their homes as the military demolished a number of houses on the third day of a major operation in the West Bank city on Thursday.
The operation was launched within days of the start of a ceasefire in Gaza that saw the first exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails since a brief truce in November 2023.
Israeli officials said the Jenin operation was aimed at what the military said were Iranian-backed militant groups in the refugee camp adjacent to the city, a major hub for armed Palestinian groups for years.
But the U.N. rights office raised the alarm over the killing of what it said were mostly unarmed people, calling for an immediate end of the violence and a halt on expanding settlements.
“Our office has verified that at least 12 Palestinians have been killed and 40 injured by Israeli security forces since Tuesday, most of them reportedly unarmed,” Al-Kheetan told a televised briefing.
“We are also concerned by repeated comments from some Israeli officials about plans to expand settlements further still and a fresh breach of international law. We recall again that the transfer by Israel of its own civilian population into territories it occupies also amounts to a war crime.”
Israel has occupied the West Bank of the Jordan River, which Palestinians want as the core of an independent state, since the 1967 Middle East war. It has built Jewish settlements there that most countries deem illegal. Israel disputes this and cites historical and Biblical ties to the land.
Since the Gaza ceasefire announcement last week, settlers have been attacking Palestinian villages and stoning vehicles, injuring several Palestinians, Al-Kheetan said, with houses and vehicles set on fire.
“Indeed it is very concerning that what’s happening today in the West Bank may have an impact on the ceasefire in Gaza. It is imperative that the ceasefire in Gaza holds,” he said.
Separately, a U.N. official told Reuters that funding shortages may affect the U.N.’s ability to maintain aid flows at target levels throughout the Gaza ceasefire deal.
(Reporting by Matthias Williams, editing by Rachel More and Alex Richardson)
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