Israeli forces have killed dozens of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank just in the first month of 2025, the UN has reported, as Israel has escalated its assault on the region amid its ceasefire in Gaza.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) for the occupied Palestinian territories reported on Thursday that, since the beginning of this year, Israeli forces have killed 53 Palestinians in the West Bank. This includes eight children, the agency said.
This means that Israeli forces have been killing an average of more than one Palestinian in the West Bank per day over the past month. Thirty of these killings were of Palestinians in Jenin, in the northern West Bank, where Israel has been executing an intense military operation known as “Iron Wall.”
Between January 21 and 27 alone, Israeli forces killed 20 Palestinians and injured 81, including 11 children, in attacks across the West Bank, according to OCHA.
This includes a raid on January 25, in which undercover Israeli forces raided a village and shot and killed a two-year-old Palestinian baby.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Israel killed at least 10 Palestinians in a strike on Tubas, in the northern West Bank.
Human rights groups and advocates for Palestinian rights have raised alarm about Israel’s increasing violence in the West Bank, warning that Israel is routinely killing Palestinians despite its ceasefire deal.
“The now routine use of airstrikes in [the] West Bank is an alarming development and inconsistent with international human rights law. It must stop immediately and the persistent impunity for unlawful killings across the OPT must end,” said the UN Human Rights Office for Palestine, in response to the attack.
Israel has also continued its violence in Gaza, reportedly killing at least 80 Palestinians there since the ceasefire came into effect on January 19.
Israel’s crackdown on the occupied West Bank has had a devastating impact on the Palestinians who live there. According to OCHA, almost all of the 20,0000 residents of Jenin refugee camp have been forcibly displaced by Israel in the past two months, with an estimated 150 to 180 homes damaged.
Meanwhile, Israeli authorities swiftly began erecting checkpoints after the Gaza ceasefire went into effect, with officials setting up dozens of new checkpoints to surveil Palestinians and restrict their freedom of movement. These were erected in part to prevent Palestinians from celebrating the release of Palestinian detainees from Israeli prisons and torture camps, a measure included in the ceasefire agreement.
According to Palestinian news agency Wafa, there are now 898 checkpoints across the West Bank, numerous roads that only Israelis are allowed to access, and over 200 military bases — in an area roughly the size of Delaware, the second smallest state in the U.S.
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