Flash report on the human rights situation in the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem, 7 October – 20 November 2023

SUMMARY

1. From January to October, 2023 had already seen the highest levels of violence from Israeli Security Forces (ISF) and Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since United Nations records began in 2005. This was against a backdrop of ever-growing settler population and increasing risks of annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank and of forcible transfer Palestinians out of their homes, especially in Area C.
2. The human rights situation in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has nevertheless further deteriorated rapidly since the 7th of October, when Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, and other Palestinian armed groups, as well as armed and unarmed Palestinian civilians, attacked civilians and civilian objects as well as military objectives in southern Israel. Since 7 October and as of 20 November, ISF and Israeli settlers have killed 209 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. This followed, notably, an increase in the use of military tactics and weapons in law enforcement contexts, the use of unnecessary or disproportionate – and therefore unlawful – force to suppress Palestinian protests and to enforce broad movement restrictions imposed on discriminatory grounds. Mass arbitrary detentions and consequential unlawful detentions, and reported torture and other ill-treatment of Palestinians by IF raised concerns of collective punishment and deepened the crisis. The number of attacks by settlers exponentially increased, leading to further displacement of Palestinian communities, including of Palestinians out of Area C of the West Bank.
3. ISF have claimed that their actions in the West Bank are preemptive, and thus not responding to an actual deterioration in the security situation in the West Bank. Further, the scale of violations and the rhetoric of retaliation by Israeli officials, are exacerbating tensions and creating conditions to ignite an already volatile situation. Palestinians live in constant terror of the discriminatory use of State force and settler violence against them and, while the situation is already dire, all indications are that it may further deteriorate unless urgent measures are taken by Israel to comply with international humanitarian law and international human rights law and ensure the rights of protected persons.
4. For decades, as recorded in reports prepared by OHCHR, ISF have used unnecessary and disproportionate force with impunity in the occupied West Bank, while it facilitated the transfer of its own citizens into unlawful settlements. At the same time, Israel has failed to protect Palestinians from settler violence, and affected Palestinians have been gradually forced out of their homes. However, the coercive environment has escalated in the last months, making an already oppressive situation worse for Palestinians, and risking a further escalation. In many parts of the occupied West Bank, shops are shut, streets are deserted, and communities cut off, closing down businesses and starving parts of the region of economic activity.
5. Findings in this report are based on human rights monitoring undertaken by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), in accordance with its standard methodology on human rights monitoring, which involves the gathering and corroboration of information from multiple independent sources in order to establish the facts and analyze violations.
6. Incidents that are included are emblematic of patterns of wider violations of the human rights of protected persons.