This article is published in association with United Nations.
Reports of new illegal Israeli outposts in the occupied West Bank raised alarms at UN Headquarters on Wednesday while the UN rights office called on Israel to condemn its national security minister’s words that incite “violence amounting to atrocity crimes” against Palestinians.
Key points
- Israeli operation traps around 40,000 Palestinians in West Bank
- Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s comments “encourage further unlawful mass killings of Palestinians”
- UN chief António Guterres calls on Israel to halt settlement plans, in line with International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinion
“The Secretary-General is deeply alarmed by the reports of new illegal Israeli settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank, including new tenders, including for the E1 area,” UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Wednesday.
The controversial E1 settlement plan approved last year includes a tender for more than 1,200 new housing units issued by the Israeli Government this week.
It would effectively sever the connection between occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank and bisect north and south, triggering severe consequences for the territorial integrity of the Occupied Palestinian Territory and present an existential threat to the two-State solution.
The Secretary-General called on Israel to refrain from taking any further steps in this regard and to act in accordance with relevant UN resolutions and in line with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion of 19 July 2024 which said Israel’s occupation of the Gaza Strip and West Bank including East Jerusalem “is unlawful”.
West Bank siege
Roughly 40,000 people, including children, are currently under curfew and not permitted to leave their homes in Dahiriya in Hebron after Israeli forces launched an operation on Wednesday.
Israeli forces imposed a curfew, deployed snipers on rooftop, blocked roads with earth mounds, made arrests and used at least seven Palestinian homes as interrogation centres, according to UN humanitarian partners that are providing support to residents.
“This is having an immediate humanitarian impact because people cannot replenish supplies, access essential services or just get to their workplaces,” the UN Spokesperson said.
“Homes and families must be protected, and any security operation must be conducted in a manner that respects international law, including the protection and dignity of civilians.”
Israel continues Gaza attacks
Near daily deadly Israeli attacks, gunfire, missile launches and airstrikes continue despite the October 2025 provisional ceasefire plan that ended the two-year Israel-Hamas war.
UN partners leading on security and safety reported Israeli military activities on areas located to the west of the so-called “Yellow Line”, a series of painted cement blocks Israel installed following the ceasefire.
According to initial local reports, an Israeli airstrike killed at least seven people and injured others in a Gaza seaport on Tuesday, with fresh attacks reported on Wednesday.
“Such incidents put civilians at risk and will restrict their ability to seek safety, medical care and humanitarian assistance,” Mr. Dujarric said.
‘Beyond bounds of humanity’
On the heels of comments on Palestinians by Israel’s Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, that incite “violence amounting to atrocity crimes”, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory issued a terse statement on Wednesday.
“The latest comments by Israel’s Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, advocating and inciting violence amounting to atrocity crimes, are yet another example of the utter contempt for international humanitarian law, international human rights law and the basic tenets of humanity displayed by senior Israeli Government officials,” OHCHR said.
“It is beyond the bounds of humanity.”
These “dehumanising remarks” follow the devastating human toll of 73,400 Palestinians killed and 174,312 injured in Gaza since 7 October 2023, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, alongside 1,123 Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank,” OHCHR said.
Israel must condemn incitement
The UN rights office pointed out that in January 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) handed down binding provisional measures requiring Israel to “take all measures within its power to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to commit genocide in relation to members of the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip” following South Africa’s case against Israel.
“Today, in the wake of the utter destruction of Gaza and unrelenting Israeli settler attacks and forced displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank, statements from senior Israeli officials to justify and encourage further unlawful mass killings of Palestinians continue unabated,” OHCHR said.
OHCHR called on the Israeli Government to unequivocally condemn and investigate instances of incitement against Palestinians.
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