120 days of Israeli West Bank assaults kill over 91 Palestinians, including 13 children

The al-Haq rights group said the death toll includes 13 children and three women, raising concerns over increased attacks and arrest campaigns.

The New Arab Staff

23 May, 2025

https://www.newarab.com/news/120-days-israeli-west-bank-assaults-kill-over-91-palestinians

Israeli military operations in the occupied West Bank over the past 120 days have killed at least 91 Palestinians, including 13 children, a rights group has said.

The Ramallah-based Al-Haq rights organisation said the military raids and operations have included the use of snipers, airstrikes, reconnaissance drones, and Apache helicopters.

The group added that armed military vehicles and bulldozers have also been used to block off refugee camps in the West Bank.

The death toll includes at least 13 children and three women, Al-Haq reported, adding that there has been significant destruction to infrastructure in Jenin, Tulkarem, Nablus, and Tubas.

Since the start of Israeli assaults on Jenin, at least 16,600 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced from their homes in Jenin.

Arrests, destruction of infrastructure

This comes as the Israeli army carried out dozens of arrests across the West Bank, patrolling streets and conducting extensive search operations.

Local media reported that Israeli forces severely damaged a road linking key villages, Issa and Qaffin, north of Tulkarem.

In Nablus, Israeli army forces stormed the villages of Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya and positioned vehicles near a mosque, with locals reporting that sound grenades were used against vehicles and residents.

Israeli settlers also escalated their attacks in recent days, demolishing huts and tents south of Hebron, while hundreds more raided the town of Bruqin, west of Salfit.

Meanwhile, two extremist Israeli settlers who are under sanctions from the UK government following an announcement this week, have joined in a campaign to push out Palestinians from their homes in the village of Mughayyir al-Deir.

Ben Pazi, who was also put on the UK sanctions list last year due to links to settlements and forcibly expelling native Palestinian Bedouins from their homes, has again made repeated visits to an illegal outpost this week.

The outpost is less than 100 metres away from a Palestinian home, garnering criticism from rights groups. Another settler, identified as Zohar Sabah, joined in the unlawful visits to outposts despite being added to a UK sanctions list for "threatening, perpetrating, promoting" acts of aggression and violence against Palestinians.

The latest developments come as Finland summoned the Israeli ambassador after Israeli forces opened fire on 35 international diplomats in Jenin on Wednesday.

Finland’s foreign minister, Elina Valtonen, denounced the shooting in a press statement, decrying it as a "serious incident that must be condemned".

She added that Finland has requested a formal explanation over what happened, highlighting concerns with the Israeli ambassador to Helsinki. The Finnish foreign ministry also noted that there was a worsening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, urging international intervention in the crisis.

The UK too has called for Israel to launch an investigation into the incident, where diplomats from Ireland, France, Germany and Turkey were forced to escape Israeli fire.

Hamish Falconer, a UK Foreign Office minister, described the attacks as "unacceptable".

"Civilians must always be protected, and diplomats allowed to do their jobs. There must be a full investigation, and those responsible should be held accountable," he wrote on X.