Red Cross Warns West Bank Life “Intolerable” as Violence Surges
The ICRC said dozens of Palestinians have been killed, hundreds wounded and many more displaced this year. Homes and property have been damaged or destroyed, leaving families without shelter or a means of earning a living.
“The frequent and severe violence must be brought to an end,” said Julien Lerisson, head of the ICRC delegation for Israel and the Palestinian occupied territories.
“(Israeli) authorities have a responsibility to protect the population from violence, including when that violence is inflicted by settlers. What international humanitarian law says on the protection of private and public property, and on the population’s access to essential services, must be respected,” he added.
The ICRC described the humanitarian toll, including deaths and serious injuries, as “overwhelming.”
Movement restrictions, it warned, are keeping patients from medical care, children from school and people from their homes and livelihoods. The organization said these curbs are forcing families and entire communities into “increasingly intolerable conditions in which to live,” the organization said.
Ambulances are at times held for hours at checkpoints and roadblocks, or diverted onto longer routes to avoid closures and violence, making it harder for first responders to reach those in need, the ICRC said.
The organization said that “Israel has a right to take measures to ensure its own security. However, as the occupying power in the West Bank it also has a responsibility towards Palestinians, who are protected persons under international humanitarian law.”
Under the law of occupation, the ICRC said, the occupying power must treat protected persons humanely at all times, shield them from acts or threats of violence, and make every effort to restore and maintain public order and civil life.
“Upholding international humanitarian law and respecting obligations under the law of occupation are necessary steps towards restoring the safety and dignity of the population,” Lerisson said.
“This means protecting civilians from violence and ceasing the expansion of civilian settlements,” he added.
The statement comes as attacks by Israeli occupiers escalate across the West Bank, alongside tighter limits on Palestinian movement and illegal settlement expansion. The Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission said Israeli occupiers carried out 628 attacks on Palestinians and their property across the territory, including occupied East Jerusalem, in August.
In June, 14 UN special rapporteurs warned that a sharp rise in “settler terror,” backed by state support and complicity in the occupied Palestinian territory, posed an existential threat to Palestinian communities.
Since Israel's war on Gaza began in October 2023, Israeli forces and occupiers have stepped up attacks across the West Bank, according to Palestinian figures. Those figures show 1,206 Palestinians killed, about 13,350 injured and more than 24,600 detained.
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