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UN Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al Kheetan on Violence in the occupied West Bank
“Images of mobs of masked Israeli settlers carrying out arson attacks in the occupied West Bank this week are abhorrent and reflect a wider pattern of increased violence against Palestinians. Several people were injured in the attacks, which included a raid on a dairy factory and the torching of delivery trucks and homes,” Thameen Al-Kheetan said.
The surge in violence comes as Israeli authorities have ramped up home demolitions, the seizure of property, arrests, and movement restrictions, alongside the unabated building of settlements and outposts and the forcible displacement and transfer of thousands of Palestinians by Israeli settlers and the military.
“Permanently displacing the Palestinian population within occupied territory amounts to unlawful transfer, which is a war crime. The transfer by Israel of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies also amounts to a war crime,” Al-Kheetan said.
“We reiterate that the Israeli Government’s assertion of sovereignty over the occupied West Bank and its annexation of parts of it are in breach of international law, as the International Court of Justice has confirmed. They also violate the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination,” he said.
“More settler attacks were recorded in October than in any month since 2006 – over 260 attacks. Since 7 October 2023, and up until 13 November 2025, Israeli security forces and settlers have killed at least 1,017 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Among the victims were 221 children,” the spokesperson said.
This figure does not include Palestinians who have died in Israeli detention. During the same period, 59 Israelis were killed in Palestinian attacks or alleged attacks or armed clashes.
“Among the latest fatalities in the West Bank was a 13-year-old Palestinian boy Aysam Jihad Labib Naser. He died on Tuesday, a month after inhaling tear gas fired by Israeli security forces towards him and his family, as settlers attacked them while they were harvesting olives in their land in Beita, near Nablus,” Al-Kheetan highlighted.
“UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk reiterates that attacks against Palestinians and their property must stop, and those responsible must be held to account,” he said.
Israel must end its unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory, including by ceasing immediately all new settlement activities, and evacuating all settlers from the occupied Palestinian territory. Palestinians’ right to self-determination must be realised, Al-Kheetan said.
ENDS
STORY: UN Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan on violence in the occupied West Bank
TRT: 02:59
SOURCE: OHCHR / UNOG
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: English/ Arabic /NATS please find transcription and translation below
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 14 November 2025 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Exterior shot:
- SOUNDBITE (English)—Thameen Al-Kheetan, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “Images of mobs of masked Israeli settlers carrying out arson attacks in the occupied West Bank this week are abhorrent and reflect a wider pattern of increased violence against Palestinians. Several people were injured in the attacks, which included a raid on a dairy factory and the torching of delivery trucks and homes.”
- Cut Aways: Briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English)—Thameen Al-Kheetan, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “Permanently displacing the Palestinian population within occupied territory amounts to unlawful transfer, which is a war crime. The transfer by Israel of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies also amounts to a war crime.”
- Cut Aways: Briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English)—Thameen Al-Kheetan, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “We reiterate that the Israeli Government’s assertion of sovereignty over the occupied West Bank and its annexation of parts of it are in breach of international law, as the International Court of Justice has confirmed. They also violate the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.”
- Cut Aways: Briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English)—Thameen Al-Kheetan, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “More settler attacks were recorded in October than in any month since 2006 – over 260 attacks. Since 7 October 2023, and up until 13 November 2025, Israeli security forces and settlers have killed at least 1,017 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Among the victims were 221 children.”
- Cut Aways: Briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English)—Thameen Al-Kheetan, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “Among the latest fatalities in the West Bank was a 13-year-old Palestinian boy Aysam Jihad Labib Naser. He died on Tuesday, a month after inhaling tear gas fired by Israeli security forces towards him and his family, as settlers attacked them while they were harvesting olives in their land in Beita, near Nablus.”
- Cut Aways: Briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English)—Thameen Al-Kheetan, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk reiterates that attacks against Palestinians and their property must stop, and those responsible must be held to account.”
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Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
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Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
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