Three children killed every week in the West Bank: UN
Israeli forces have, on average, killed three Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank every week since October 7, 2023, according to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The organisation said this marks a four-fold increase compared to the first nine months of 2023, during which 40 children were killed.
“Over 60 percent of these fatalities occurred in Jenin, Tulkarem, Tubas and Nablus governorates, areas that have witnessed intensified Israeli operations over the past year,” OCHA said.
“Among them, 35 children were killed in air strikes, during which Israeli forces employed lethal, war-like tactics, raising serious concerns about the excessive use of force. Additionally, 1,132 children have been injured, with nearly half [48 percent] sustaining injuries from live ammunition.”
The UN also noted multiple instances this month of Israeli forces killing or wounding Palestinians in the occupied territories, or supporting violent attacks by illegal settlers.
Thousands of Hebron students forced to drop out of schools due to Israeli restrictions
The latest statement by OCHA that we reported on earlier also says many Palestinian students are dropping out of schools in the Israeli-controlled H2 area of Hebron city in the occupied West Bank “due to intensified access restrictions”.
The UN says there are more than 13,000 students in H2 who have not attended school in person between October 2023 and May 2024.
Due to Israeli movement restrictions, some students and teachers are forced to take detours through areas used by Israeli settlers, who have engaged in intensifying daily attacks against Palestinians since the start of the war.
Some of the classes have been shifted online, but many families have had limited or no access to the internet or remote electronic devices.
Since October last year, at least 330 Palestinians, including 40 children, across H2 have been detained at checkpoints during search-and-arrest operations, or by ad hoc detentions by Israeli forces, according to the UN.
