In addition to using firearms to attack Palestinians, settlers and Israeli forces also torched hundreds of homes, buildings and cars in the West Bank, per OCHCR. Shamdasani said that settlers also reportedly established at least two new illegal outposts this week “near Palestinian communities which have been repeatedly attacked by settlers in the past months and are at imminent risk of being forcibly transferred from their homes and land.”
“Israel, as the occupying power, must take all measures in its power to restore, and ensure, as far as possible, public order and safety in the occupied West Bank,” she said. “This obligation includes protecting Palestinians from settler attacks, and ending unlawful use of force against Palestinians by [Israeli forces].”
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 war, and since its occupation has continued to build a massive number of settlements belonging to more than half a million Jewish settlers. The international community has long considered the settlements illegal and an obstacle to lasting regional peace. Human rights groups have gone a step farther, accusing Israel of committing apartheid by forcibly removing Palestinian families from their homes and allowing law enforcement to ignore ― and, in some instances, even participate in ― violence against them.