New York, Aug. 12 (SANA) Two U.N. officials warned Tuesday that the West Bank has reached a “dangerous turning point” amid escalating violence and displacement of Palestinians and accelerating Israeli settlement activity.
U.N. News quoted Ramiz Alakbarov, U.N. Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, as telling the Security Council by video that the deterioration was the result of decades of unresolved conflict that had deepened the Israeli occupation, pushed the Palestinian Authority to the brink of collapse and undermined prospects for an independent, viable and sovereignPalestinian state.
Alakbarov said 76 Palestinians, including 18 children, had been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or settlers as of Aug. 10.
Since January 2023, 127 Palestinian communities have been fully or partially displaced, including 47 whose residents were completely displaced, affecting more than 6,390 Palestinians, he said. About 3,800 Palestinians have been displaced this year alone, nearly half of them children, because of settler violence, demolitions and evictions.
Alakbarov said settler violence had reached “unprecedented levels,” with theU.N. documenting more than 1,430 incidents this year involving Israeli settlers that resulted in casualties, property damage or both and affected about 260 Palestinian communities.
He highlighted attacks on the Nablus-area villages of Tell, Urif and Surra on July 24. An escalation following the attack on Tell killed four Palestinians, while other attacks injured Palestinians and caused extensive property damage. Similar incidents were occurring daily across the West Bank, he said.
Israeli military operations and movement restrictions were continuing to disrupt civilian life and humanitarian operations, Alakbarov said. During a large-scale Israeli operation in Qalandia refugee camp in Jerusalem from Aug. 5 to 7, dozens of Palestinians were injured, more than 60 people were arrested or detained and extensive property damage was reported.
Alakbarov expressed concern over settlement expansion, saying Israeli planning authorities had advanced or approved about 12,360 settlement units in the occupied West Bank since the beginning of the year, including 5,160 in East Jerusalem.
He warned that the developments were “interconnected steps rather than isolated developments” that were reshaping the West Bank, weakening Palestinian governance and pushing toward “de facto annexation.” He called the situation an emergency requiring urgent action.
UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Hanan Suleiman told the Security Council that escalating violence in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, was severely affecting children. The U.N. verified the killing of 174 Palestinian children between January 2024 and the end of July 2026, equivalent to about one child a week.
More than 1,500 Palestinian children were injured during the same period, half of them by live ammunition, Suleiman said, adding that boys, particularly adolescents, accounted for most of the children killed or injured.
She said rising settler violence had resulted in grave violations against children, including shootings, beatings and stabbings, attacks on homes and livelihoods, and damage to or destruction of water infrastructure.
More than 800,000 children in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, face obstacles to safe and continuous education because of school closures, insecurity, movement restrictions and infrastructure damage, Suleiman said. In 2026, 99 education-related incidents were documented, including children being killed, injured or detained in schools or on their way to them, school demolitions, military use of school buildings and denial of access to education.
Suleiman expressed grave concern over Palestinian children in Israeli detention. According to Israeli Prison Service figures, at least 355 Palestinian children from the West Bank are being held in Israeli military detention, the highest number in eight years. Of those, 164 are in administrative detention without charge or trial.
Detained children continue to report violence, ill-treatment and harsh conditions, she said, with inadequate nutrition and hygiene contributing to severe weight loss and widespread scabies.
Suleiman stressed that children in the West Bank should have the same rights as children everywhere, including the right to live, learn, be protected and envision a future beyond violence and fear.
R.A/R.K
