UN rights office condemns ‘apparent summary execution’ of two men in the West Bank

This article is published in association with United Nations.

The UN human rights office, OHCHR said on Friday that it was “appalled” by the “brazen killing” of two Palestinian men by Israeli border police in the West Bank, describing it as “an apparent summary execution.” 

The shooting occurred on Thursday in Jenin and was apparently caught on film by a TV channel, OHCHR Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence told journalists in Geneva.

He said an internal review was announced following the incident, but statements made by a senior Israeli official sought to absolve security forces of responsibility, “raising serious concerns about the credibility of any future review or investigation conducted by any entity that is not fully independent from the Government.”

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Surge in killings

Mr. Laurence noted that killings of Palestinians by Israeli security forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank have been surging, without accountability.

OHCHR has verified that Israeli forces and settlers have killed 1,030 Palestinians there, including 233 children, since 7 October 2023.

“Impunity for Israel security forces’ unlawful use of force, and ever-growing Israeli settler violence, must end,” he said.

Moreover, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has called for independent, prompt and effective investigations and for those responsible to be held fully to account. 

Violence, injuries and displacement

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) noted that violence continues unabated across the West Bank with casualties, damage and displacement reported on a daily basis.

More than 1,600 attacks perpetrated by Israeli settlers since the beginning of the year have led to causalities, property damage, or both, with over 270 Palestinian communities affected.

The number of Palestinians injured in these attacks has surpassed 1,000, with most of them sustaining physical assault, hit by stones or inhaling teargas.  

Some 700 Palestinians were injured by settlers themselves, OCHA said. The rest were either injured by Israeli forces, or it remains unknown whether they were injured by Israeli forces or settlers. 

The 700 figure is roughly double the number of Palestinians injured by Israeli settlers in attacks in 2024. 

UN under fire in Gaza

OCHA also updated on the situation in the Gaza Strip, where UN staff and facilities continue to come under fire despite the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

On Monday, a yard in a school operated by the UN Palestine refugee agency UNRWA in Jabalya, northern Gaza, was bombed, reportedly by an Israeli quadcopter.

The following night, a group of armed Palestinians fired at a team from the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) in Deir Al-Balah, striking one of their clearly marked vehicles with multiple rounds. 

“The team had finished loading fuel and carrying out monitoring work at the Kerem Shalom crossing. Thankfully, no one was injured in either of these attacks,” OCHA said.  

Aid efforts continue

Despite the risks, the UN and partners continue providing services and critical items to people across Gaza.  

Between Sunday and Tuesday, humanitarian partners assisted some 18,000 families with monthly food parcels through 59 distribution points. 

“Since the start of November, over 204,000 families – nearly half of Gaza’s population – have received food parcels,” OCHA said.

Nutritional and reproductive health support

Humanitarians are also scaling up nutrition services. Forty malnutrition treatment sites are now operating across the Strip following the opening of eight new locations in the north last week.

Other aid partners are supporting the restoration of wells and the extension of pipelines and other critical infrastructure, in order to reduce people’s dependence on water trucking. Similar efforts are also underway to restore parts of Gaza’s decimated sewage system.   

The UN sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, has also distributed 16 reproductive health kits to medical facilities across the enclave during the period from 16 to 26 November.  This is enough to support some 200 safe deliveries over the next three months.

UNFPA also provided 400,000 units of essential maternal health medicines, including antibiotics, to health facilities.

OCHA said that many of these humanitarian efforts are made possible by UN partners working in mine action who assess key sites for potential explosive hazards, with five such assessments carried out on Wednesday alone.