The United Nations said that this year has been the deadliest for Palestinians in the West Bank since it started recording fatalities in 2005.
The Arab League has revealed that 223 Palestinians have been killed by Israel this year, condemning the occupying state’s ongoing escalations against the indigenous population, Qatar’s news agency (QNA) reported on Monday.
The bloc raised the alarming number during a session of the Conference of Supervisors of Palestinian Affairs in the Host Arab Countries, in which Arab League’s Head of the Palestinian and other Arab Occupied Territories Sector Said Abu Ali took aim at the occupying state.
Abu Ali also said there has been a significant rise in prisoners, many of which have been subjected to “medical negligence as a killing tool”, QNA reported. He also pointed to the settler raids of holy sites, including the Al Aqsa Mosque under the Israeli regime’s protection.
According to Palestinian Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Addameer, there are currently 4,700 Palestinian prisoners behind Israeli bars, including 150 children. A total of 600 prisoners are currently suffering from diseases and are in need of medical care.
Last week, Palestinian prisoner Nasser Abu Hamid died in an Israeli prison at the age of 50 following a late diagnosis of an advanced lung cancer more than a year ago. Rights groups have slammed Israel for its deliberate medical negligence of Hamid, as well as scores of other prisoners.
Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz refused to return the veteran prisoner’s body to his family, a common practice by the occupation in which it denies deceased Palestinians a dignified burial.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS), Israel continues to hold the bodies of 11 prisoners. It also said that 233 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli custody since the beginning of its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967.
‘Deadliest year‘
The UN said that this year has been the deadliest for Palestinians in the West Bank since it started recording fatalities in 2005.
Save the Children also revealed that the total children killed by Israeli occupation forces (IOF) doubled this year to 34, describing this year as the deadliest for the youth in the West Bank since 2006.
Israel’s crimes in the West Bank and Jerusalem intensified this year with the Zionist state continuing to conduct violent crackdowns and raids on Palestinians. According to the UN, the IOF conducted 157 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 201 Palestinians, including 18 children.
Jerusalem witnessed the highest number of raids, with the monthly average of detainments this year reaching the highest since 2017.
Meanwhile, demolitions to make way for more Jewish settlers have also soared, with many Palestinians being forced to take down their own houses for the construction of Israeli settlements deemed illegal under international law.
Meanwhile, Gaza faced yet another brutal Israeli bombardment this year, during which the IOF killed 49 Palestinians including 17 children in August.