The extremist Israeli finance minister is still under fire for a statements in which he advocated for the “eradication” of the Huwara, a village in the West Bank. The UN Human Rights Chief described the words an inexplicable declaration of provocation to violence and hate.
The UN authority officially presented an update on the condition in the occupied lands to the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council. Volker Turk said that the situation there is a catastrophe, especially for the Palestinian groups.
Turk was responding to statements made by Bezalel Smotrich, the leader of a pro-settlement party in the far-right governing alliance in Israel. After a string of fatal Palestinian assaults and settler aggression in the region, Smotrich made the remarks.
Regardless of the danger level and occasionally even as a first step rather than a last option, the Israeli security forces) routinely used fatal force, according to Turk’s assessment. He further explained his administration has also recorded multiple examples of what appear to be targeted extrajudicial executions by personnel of the ISF.
“The report finds that 131 Palestinians were killed by ISF personnel over the past year in a context of law enforcement that is outside any context of hostilities. This includes 65 people who we understand were not armed nor engaged in any attacks or clashes,” he further added.
Days earlier, the representative of the European Union to the Palestinians likewise urged responsibility and the prosecution of offenders. The comments were made following an Israeli settler assault in the occupied West Bank, which resulted in the deaths of a civilian and the torching of homes, businesses, and vehicles.
The damage caused by the unrest on Sunday in and around Huwara, according to Ambassador Sven Kuhn von Burgsdorff, was something the officials wished to witness directly. The incident comes after a Palestinian shooting that claimed the lives of two Israeli siblings.
Huwara Rampage
As Kuhn von Burgsdorff explained, “it is absolutely necessary for us that accountability is fully ensured, that the perpetrators be brought to justice that those who lost property be compensated.”
Following a Jerusalem court’s decision to deploy police to free all seven persons who had been held in association with the rage, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday issued detainment orders for two rampage detainees.
Amnesty International criticized the accuseds’ Friday discharge. Also, it criticised arbitrary detention, which it claimed was an illegal practice under international humanitarian regulations.
According to research by an Israeli human rights group, during a 17-year process ending in 2022, 93 percent of inquiries into settler violence in the West Bank were concluded without charges being brought.
Israeli Major General Yehuda Fuchs, who oversees the Israeli armed forces in the region, stated on Tuesday that his troops had anticipated possible settler retaliation for the shooting. They, however, had been taken aback by the severity of the aggression, which he claimed was committed by several individuals. He described it as a “pogrom committed by outlaws”.
Also, the US has requested that Netanyahu retract Smotrich’s proposal for the eradication of Huwara. On the eve of the assault, Netanyahu advised Israelis not to impose their own laws, but he hasn’t replied to Smotrich’s assertion or the unprecedented criticism from Washington, a key partner.
Mohammad Nidal Saleem, 15, was brutally shot in the back by Israeli soldiers two days ago in the West Bank village of Azzoun, according to Palestinian sources. The mayor, Ahmad Enaya, claimed that when teenagers threw rocks at an Israeli military vehicle that had driven into town, troops fired back with live ammunition.
