The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has condemned Israel’s use of deadly force with advanced weapons on the Palestinian population in the Jenin Refugee Camp in the occupied West Bank that killed almost a dozen people including children and injured almost 100, some still in a critical condition.
“This week’s violence in the occupied West Bank risks spiraling out of control, fuelled by strident political rhetoric and an escalation in the use of advanced military weaponry by Israel,” Turk said on Friday 23 June.
He further emphasized that the raid represented a significant escalation in the use of military equipment more commonly associated with armed conflicts, rather than law enforcement operations.
Volker Turk called on Israel to urgently reconsider its policies and actions in the West Bank, urging them to align with international human rights standards, particularly in safeguarding and respecting the right to life.
He called the air strikes with helicopter gunships a “major intensification of the use of weaponry more generally associated with the conduct of armed hostilities, rather than a law enforcement situation”.
“Israel must urgently reset its policies and actions in the West Bank in line with international human rights standards, including protecting and respecting the right to life,” Turk said.
On Monday 19 June 2023, Israeli forces stormed the Jenin refugee camp, resulting in the deaths, injuries and destruction of homes and businesses that drew global condemnation
Reports indicate that Israeli forces employed helicopter gunships and advanced weaponry largely used in wartime during conflict between rival nations and not on occupied civilian areas.
The raid has spiralled into a series of tit for tit for tat violence between Israelis and Palestinians.
A day later, Palestinian gunmen killed four Israeli civilians, including a 17-year-old boy, near the Jewish settlement of Eli. The Palestinian gunmen were members of the armed wing of Hamas, the Islamic militant group that seized control in the coastal territory of Gaza in 2007 after winning elections a year earlier.
And then late Wednesday, an Israeli airstrike by a pilotless drone killed three Palestinian militants in a car who the military said had just shot at an Israeli position in the northern West Bank and had carried out attacks against Jewish settlements in the area.
The killing of the four Israelis at Eli set off waves of reprisals on Tuesday and Wednesday by Israeli extremists who rampaged through Palestinian towns and villages, including Turmus Aya, north of Ramallah, the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority, which administers most Palestinian cities and towns in the West Bank. Turmus Aya is a relatively well-heeled community, and many of its residents are also U.S. citizens.
The Israeli arsonists burned 15 homes and 60 vehicles as well as crops, Lafi Deeb, the head of the Turmus Aya council, told Palestinian radio on Thursday. One Palestinian man from the town was fatally shot by an Israeli officer during the melee, according to officials.
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