West Asia

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk says Israeli forces have killed at least 245 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank since the beginning of the Israeli genocide against Gaza on October 7, 2023. He stated on Friday that the fatalities included 41 minors who lost their lives in incidents involving reported stone-throwing. “The killing of a child is deplorable. The killing of a child for simply carrying or throwing stones is abhorrent,” Turk said.

He stressed that international law required any use of force to be “necessary and proportional to the threat posed,” adding that violations must be subject to accountability. “There must be accountability for violations,” Turk noted. The comments come as Israeli pogroms in the occupied West Bank escalate to what the United Nations has described as an “unprecedented level,” following the Hamas-led Operation al-Aqsa Flood on October 7, 2023, and the subsequent Israeli genocidal war on Gaza.

According to the UN, at least 1,143 Palestinians, including 250 children, have been killed in the occupied West Bank since then. The figure includes Palestinians killed by Israeli settlers residing in settlements in the area. The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) said 2026 is poised to be the most violent year for incidents related to settler violence since monitoring began a decade ago. In July alone, four incidents involving armed settlers and Israeli forces resulted in 11 deaths.

The areas hardest hit by these settlers' attacks include al-Khalil, Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin, and al-Bireh. On November 10, Israeli forces fatally shot a 14-year-old Palestinian boy and injured two other teenagers during a raid on the village of Burqa in the occupied West Bank. The Palestinian Ministry of Health identified the victim as Moataz Iyad Daghlas, noting that Israeli authorities are withholding his body. The official Palestinian WAFA news agency reported that two other teenagers were injured — a 17-year-old was shot in the abdomen and pelvis, while a 19-year-old was hit in the hand.