West Bank crisis: UN chief calls for immediate halt to Israeli strikes

Mr. Guterres’s intervention late Wednesday comes amid one of the biggest Israeli Security Forces (ISF) operations in the West Bank in years – the ISF insists against terrorists - with raids, airstrikes including drones that by Thursday had killed 17 people, according to Palestinian media.

In a statement, the spokesperson for the UN chief said that he was deeply concerned by airstrikes in Tulkarm and Tubas governorates which caused casualties and damage to public infrastructure. The UN Secretary-General also strongly condemned the loss of lives, including children’s.

Palestinian authority undermined

In his appeal for an end to the violence in the West Bank, the Secretary-General maintained that the latest “dangerous developments” were “fuelling an already explosive situation in the occupied West Bank and further undermining the Palestinian Authority” there.

The UN chief also called for the “status quo” to be maintained at Jerusalem’s holy sites, as he expressed deep concern about the “recent dangerous and provocative acts and statements” by Israel’s national security minister, after his recent visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is known to Jews as Temple Mount.

The Israeli military should also comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law, Mr. Guterres insisted, as he urged Israel “to protect civilians and ensure their safety [and] to exercise maximum restraint and use lethal force only when it is strictly unavoidable”. In addition, all those injured in the Israeli manoeuvres “must have access to medical care”, while aid teams must be able to reach everyone in need, he said.

Security Council to gather

The UN chief’s comments precede a hastily convened Security Council meeting on the escalating crisis in New York later on Thursday, at the request of the United Kingdom. The Members of the UN’s top forum - whose purpose is the maintenance of international peace and security – are set to gather against the destabilizing backdrop of rising tensions and heavy exchanges of fire between northern Israel and Hezbollah fighters based in southern Lebanon – in addition to the war in Gaza.

On Wednesday, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, warned that the Israeli military’s actions risked further enflaming an “already explosive situation” – citing multiple airstrikes in the Nur Shams Refugee Camp in Tulkarem on Monday night that left five dead – three Palestinian men and two boys aged 13 and 15.

Settler violence in spotlight

“Three of the fatalities, including the two boys, were killed while they were passing by the targeted house…located in one of the small and crammed alleyways in the camp,” OHCHR said, citing multiple sources.

The UN office warned that the situation in the Occupied West Bank “could worsen dramatically” if the Israeli military continues to “systematically use unlawful lethal force and ignore violence perpetrated by settlers”.

Gaza: Polio campaign nears readiness

In Gaza, meanwhile, UN aid teams confirmed that a mass polio campaign aiming to protect all children under 10 years old is set to begin this Sunday.

Dire sanitary conditions and constant evacuation orders linked to ongoing operations by the Israeli military have led to the outbreaks of multiple preventable diseases, polio included.

Last week, a 10-month old baby whose mother raised the alarm when he stopped crawling became the first person to contract polio in the enclave in 25 years.

“A lack of water, healthcare and humanitarian access has formed a “perfect storm of conditions" in which polio reemerged in Gaza,” said Sam Rose, Senior Deputy Field Director for UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine Refugees.

At least 3,000 workers will ensure that more than 640,000 children under the age of 10 will receive two drops of oral polio vaccine type 2. The campaign is a joint UN operation involving UNRWA, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, the UN Children’s Fund.