![A girl stands holding a brush in one hand and a plush doll in the other in a balcony near Israeli soldiers escorting Israeli settlers in a guided tour of the old market in the Palestinian part of the old city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank on October 22, 2024 during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, or the Feast of the Tabernacles. [HAZEM BADER/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/GettyImages-2179418405.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
The UN, on Thursday, reported a “three-fold” surge in Israeli killing of Palestinian children in the Occupied West Bank, Anadolu Agency reports.
Spokesman Stephane Dujarric indicated at a news conference that “children are bearing the brunt of the worsening situation in the West Bank”, and said that “since 7 October of last year, four Palestinian children have been killed every week on average in the West Bank – marking a three-fold increase compared to the first nine months of 2023.”
He noted illegal Israeli settler violence in the Occupied West Bank, adding that the violence continues to displace Palestinian children.
“Of the more than 1,700 Palestinians displaced by settler violence, intimidation and harassment in Bedouin and herding communities, nearly half were children,” he said.
Over the past few years, the Israeli military has conducted regular raids in the Occupied West Bank, which have escalated with the beginning of the onslaught in the Gaza Strip on 7 October, 2023. Palestinians have also been violently attacked by illegal Israeli settlers.
Nearly 795 Palestinians have since been killed and more than 6,450 injured by Israeli army fire in the Occupied Territory, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
In July, the International Court of Justice issued a landmark advisory opinion that declared Israel’s decades-long Occupation of Palestinian land “illegal” and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
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