2 years after ICJ ruling, UN rights office says settler violence, annexation in West Bank 'getting worse'

Spokesperson says Israeli attacks, settlement expansion, movement restrictions have intensified despite world court finding Israel's occupation unlawful

Two years after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled Israel's presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful, the UN human rights office warned Wednesday that Israeli settler violence and annexation in the occupied West Bank have intensified. "The violence by settlers and widening annexation of Palestinian territory in the West Bank is only getting worse," UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said in a statement. She said that since last Thursday, eight Palestinians, including a boy, and two members of the Israeli military have been killed in the occupied West Bank. Shamdasani said Israeli settlers and security forces, "often acting together," have attacked Palestinian communities, assaulted families, destroyed and confiscated property, and burned mosques. The movement restrictions "are now tighter," she said, preventing Palestinians from accessing essential services. The rights office voiced alarm over the Israeli government's announcement of plans to further expand settlements and outposts, as well as what it described as open calls by Israeli leaders for revenge and collective punishment against Palestinian communities. It also expressed concern over threats to "turn the West Bank into another Gaza." Calling the current situation unprecedented, Shamdasani said attacks by Israeli settlers and the establishment of settlements and outposts have reached "an all-time high." The spokesperson urged third states to "act urgently and in unison" to halt the continuing killing and dispossession of Palestinians and to bring an end to the Israeli occupation.