UN ‘alarmed’ at West Bank violence

Jerusalem, Undefined (AFP):

The UN Middle East peace envoy has urged Israel and the Palestinians to calm surging violence in the occupied West Bank, a day after the latest Israeli raid killed six people.

“We are in the midst of a cycle of violence that must be stopped immediately,” Tor Wennesland said in a statement.

“The Security Council has spoken with one voice, calling on the parties to observe calm and restraint, and to refrain from provocative actions, incitement and inflammatory rhetoric.”

The call came a day after intense fighting during an Israeli raid in the flashpoint northern West Bank city of Jenin, in which IDF soldiers killed six Palestinians, including a member of Hamas accused of killing two Israeli settlers last month.

Wennesland said he was “alarmed” at the violence, which the army said included soldiers launching shoulder-fired rockets amid ferocious gunfire.

Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, called the use of rockets in Jenin refugee camp an act of “all-out war”, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

The Jenin raid was the latest in a string of deadly military operations in the Palestinian territory, which Israel has occupied since the Six-Day War of 1967.

Among the six killed was Abdel Fatah Hussein Khroushah, 49. The Israeli army said he was a “terrorist operative” suspected of killing two illegal Israeli settlers in the Palestinian town of Huwara on February 26.

Following the incident, hundreds of Israelis stormed Huwara, torching dozens of Palestinian homes and cars in the West Bank town.

“I am deeply disturbed by the continuing violence,” Wennesland said, condemning both Israeli settler violence against Palestinians and Palestinian attacks against Israelis.

“Israel, as the occupying power, must ensure that the civilian population is protected and perpetrators are held to account,” he said.

Overnight, a rocket was fired from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip but fell short and exploded inside the coastal enclave, the Israeli military said.

Commitments made by the two sides in Jordan last month, when they agreed to “commit to de-escalation”, must be implemented if “we are to find a way forward”, Wennesland said.

“The parties must refrain from further steps that would lead us to more violence,” he added.

However, the hardline government in Israel has made it clear that the terms agreed to in Jordan may not necessarily be implemented.

Israeli Minister for Security Ben-Gvir, known for his extremist views, recently stated that Israeli raids and demolitions will continue in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan- an unprecedented policy shift that is likely to aggravate the miseries of the Palestinians as they prepare to welcome the sacred month of fasting and worship.