French Foreign Minister Stephane Cigogne said on Monday that he hopes the European Union will impose sanctions on Israelis who commit acts of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, according to Reuters.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates issued a statement last Thursday, strongly condemning what it described as “violations and crimes” by Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank.
The statement said, “What the occupation forces and armed settler militias are doing in the West Bank is the other side of the genocide version in the Gaza Strip, being gradually applied… and it is expanding day by day to include the entire occupied West Bank,” as reported by the Arab World News Agency.
It also stated that “the Israeli authorities are trying to impose a policy of starvation in the West Bank, and to choke and destroy its already modest economies. They are also attempting to strike any geographical or economic unity between the West Bank and Gaza; with the aim of confiscating more Palestinian land and deepening settlement in it.
The situation in the West Bank has been marked by increasing violence and repression, as highlighted in recent United Nations reports. Since October 7, following an attack by Hamas on southern Israel and the subsequent Israeli bombing campaign in Gaza, there has been a noted surge in violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. The United Nations has documented at least 120 hate crimes in the region, with no charges brought in any of the cases. Israeli settlers, reportedly with the support of the far-right government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, are accused of accelerating the displacement of Palestinians from their land. This has raised concerns about the forcible transfer of Palestinians and the hindrance of the viability of a Palestinian state.
The UN report indicates a significant increase in settler attacks, including shootings and the burning of homes, averaging six per day, up from three per day previously. Israeli forces and settlers are reported to have killed at least 300 Palestinians in the West Bank between October 7 and December 27. During this period, more than 4,700 Palestinians were arrested, many held without charge or trial in administrative detention. Palestinian detainees have faced severe abuse and torture at the hands of Israeli soldiers. The UN report also notes instances of Israeli Defense Forces personnel filming and photographing themselves abusing and degrading Palestinians in the West Bank.
The report comes amid intensified Israeli raids in the West Bank, targeting densely populated refugee camps, resulting in deaths, injuries, and widespread damage to civilian infrastructure. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, has expressed concern over the use of military tactics and weapons in law enforcement contexts, the use of unnecessary or disproportionate force, and broad, arbitrary, and discriminatory movement restrictions affecting Palestinians.
