UN official says Israeli army controls every part of West Bank, affecting population

ISTANBUL

A senior UN official in Palestine said on Saturday that the Israeli army controls every part of the West Bank and that settlers' violence against locals has increased over the last month, affecting the population.

“The reality is there is no part in the West Bank which is not touched and controlled by Israel,” Adam Bouloukos, director of UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) affairs in the West Bank, said in a statement posted on social media platform X.

Separately, in an interview with Turkish international broadcaster TRT World, he said “settler violence & Israeli military incursions have increased enormously over the last month & there has been a near total lockdown in the West Bank.”

''The occupation means that every life, every daily transaction of every individual in the West Bank is impacted,” he added.

As the humanitarian pause in the Gaza Strip came into effect on Friday morning, the Israeli army continued raids and arrests in various cities and towns across the occupied West Bank.

Israel and Hamas swapped 24 Israelis and foreigners for 39 Palestinians from Israeli jails on Friday, on the first day of a four-day humanitarian pause.

Under the agreement, the hostages will be released in batches over the course of four days.

Israel launched a massive military campaign against the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Hamas last month.

It has since killed at least 14,854 Palestinians, including 6,150 children and over 4,000 women, according to health authorities in the enclave.

The official Israeli death toll stands at 1,200.

*Writing by Ziad Aslan