TEHRAN - The United Nations says Israeli forces have killed 167 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and al-Quds (Jerusalem) as of August 7 in the current year.

The figure does not cover the besieged Gaza Strip, where at least 36 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military attacks during a four-day assault between May 9 and 13.
The number of fatalities in the West Bank has already surpassed in 2022 which saw 155 killed, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported. 

More alarmingly, the UN Office said that 2022 had already witnessed the highest number of fatalities in the occupied West Bank and al-Quds since 2005. 

Since the OCHA report documenting cases up to August 7, Israel has already fatally shot down more Palestinians and there are still five months left to go this year. 

The regime has been conducting almost daily pre-dawn raids in villages, towns, and cities in the occupied West Bank this year. 

Many of the dead have been children, teenagers, and women. The elderly and journalists have not been spared either. 

There has been a significant spike in deadly settler attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank this year under the regime's watchful eyes. 

Israeli settlers have been rampaging through various Palestinian towns and villages, torching property and setting cars ablaze, moves that have drawn strong condemnation from the international community. 

The UN report also cites cases where Palestinian families have fled their houses out of fear of Israeli settler violence.

In the midst of one such rampage in the Palestinian village of Huwara, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in March called for the Palestinian village to be wiped off the map, saying, "I think that Huwara needs to be erased."

Smotrich went a step further in a sign that critics slammed as aimed at encouraging the settler violence by saying at a conference in France, "Is there a Palestinian history or culture? There is none. There is no such thing as a Palestinian people."

According to OCHA between July 25 to August 7 this year, "Six Palestinians, including one child, were injured by Israeli settlers; and people known or believed to be settlers damaged Palestinian property in another 14 instances across the West Bank." 

Also, during the reported two-week period, 276 Palestinians, including at least 60 children, were seriously injured by Israeli forces across the occupied West Bank, including nine by live ammunition.

Many of these injuries by live fire took place during demonstrations against the regime's violations that were met by brutal Israeli force. 

In three additional incidents, Israeli forces injured 118 Palestinians in Nablus and al-Khalil, also known as Hebron. These followed the trespassing of Israeli settlers, accompanied by Israeli forces, into Asira al Qibliya village near Nablus, and the entry into Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus city and the Tomb of Othniel in the Palestinian controlled area of al-Khalil city.

OCHA report says except al-Khalil, nowhere in the West Bank is under Palestinian control, including Ramallah where the Palestinian Authority headquarters is based.
In addition, during these two weeks, the UN Office reported that "Israeli authorities demolished, confiscated, or forced people (Palestinians) to demolish 56 structures in (occupied al-Quds) Jerusalem and Area C of the West Bank, including six homes, citing the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, which are almost impossible to obtain."

As a result, the UN has said that "23 Palestinians, including 12 children, were displaced, and the livelihoods of more than 3,500 others were affected."

Among the youngest Palestinians killed, the UN Office said, was a 13-year-old boy who died from wounds sustained during an Israeli search and arrest operation in Qalqilya on July 27. 

The Israeli military has been widely accused of manipulating the statements it issues following such deadly incidents and always twisting the narrative to make it appear the victim was the perpetrator. 

There have been almost zero punitive measures handed out to Israeli troops for murdering Palestinians. In very extreme and rare cases, when soldiers are supposedly tried in kangaroo courts, they always end up walking away scot-free, despite the injustices committed against the Palestinians. 

For decades now, international rights organizations have been calling for outside parties to investigate the exact circumstances leading up to Palestinians being murdered at Israeli military checkpoints chocking the West Bank or the regime's daily raids. 

The UN has repeatedly condemned Israel's shoot-to-kill policy. Even when Israeli military statements cite the victim as allegedly holding a knife as the reason for being gunned down, critics have expressed deep skepticism as to whether this was actually the case. 

Campaigners have been calling for Israeli troops and generals to stand before an international tribunal in all cases of Palestinians being murdered to find out the exact circumstances that led to a  Palestinian being shot dead at a military checkpoint or near an illegal settlement in the West Bank to find out whether lethal force was even necessary. 

The UN Office also highlights a case on August 6, when an undercover unit of the Israeli forces shot and killed three Palestinians, including a 15-year-old child, while they were inside their car near Jenin. 

OCHA says, "According to the Israeli military, the three were intending to imminently carry out an armed attack against Israelis." But were they really? 

It is impossible to establish the truth about this when UN organizations cite the Israeli military. 
The bodies of the three killed have remained withheld by Israeli authorities as of the end of the reporting period by the UN Office on August 7. 

There are many that welcome the regular reports by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs for highlighting the ongoing plight of Palestinian suffering and cause, with the cases it documents. 

Others say the Palestinian death toll and other Israeli violations provided by OCHA are an undercount of the actual events on the ground and that more access is required for UN agencies to uncover the extent of Israeli atrocities.

There are also Palestinian NGOs who argue OCHA reports are not receiving the media attention that they deserve in the West. 

Experts say that in the absence of any international action toward Israel's deadly crimes, the Palestinians can only resort to resistance to defend themselves, their land, family, and property. 

The reality is that armed resistance is a legitimate right for the Palestinians, enshrined under international law to defend themselves against foreign invaders.

************H
In March, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said, "Is there a Palestinian history or culture? There is none. There is no such thing as a Palestinian people."