West Bank violence, annexation ‘only getting worse’: UN

GENEVA

Two years after the International Court of Justice said Israel’s occupation of the West Bank was unlawful, settler violence and territorial annexation is “only getting worse,” the U.N. said on July 29.

The organization’s human rights office said that with attacks by Israeli settlers and the creation of outposts “hitting an all-time high,” countries had to act to end the occupation.

“We are alarmed by the Israeli government’s announcement to further increase the number of settlements and outposts, and open calls by Israeli leaders for revenge and collective punishment against Palestinian communities, accompanied by threats to turn the West Bank into another Gaza,” rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said in a statement.

In a sweeping, non-binding “advisory opinion” issued in July 2024, the U.N.’s top court said that Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian territory was “illegal.”

The court in The Hague found that “Israel’s continued presence in the Palestinian territories is illegal,” ICJ presiding judge Nawaf Salam said.

Israel is “under the obligation to bring to an end its unlawful presence as rapidly as possible,” he said.

Violence has exploded in the West Bank since the Hamas attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, with near-daily attacks by Israeli settlers and regular raids on Palestinian villages.