PARIS: Western nations and the European Union on Friday urged Israel to “take concrete steps to halt unprecedented violence by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank,” in a joint statement published by France’s foreign ministry.

The call from Australia, Britain, Canada, France, the European Union and several other European countries — but notably excluding Germany and the United States — highlighted “an unprecedented number of attacks perpetrated by extremist settlers” since early Oct that they said had claimed eight Palestinian lives and wounded 83 people.

Reiterating that Israel’s settlement policy “is illegal under international law,” the signatories of Friday’s statement said that “as the occupying power, Israel must protect Palestinian civilians in the West Bank” and “bring those responsible for this violence to justice”.

Friday’s statement comes days after EU chief Ursula von der Leyen backed imposing sanctions on “extremist” Israeli settlers — although not all of the bloc’s 27 nations agree.

Call on Tel Aviv to ensure safety of civilians

While some members such as Spain have sharply criticised Israeli aggression against Gazans, others including Germany stand firmly behind the state.

In the West Bank city of Jenin, the troops killed a youth at a hospital during raids, Palestinian authorities said.

Soldiers operating inside the Khalil Suleiman hospital compound just outside Jenin’s built-up refugee camp killed an unarmed teenager there, according to medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Soldiers shot the 17-year-old in the chest, the Palestinian health ministry said.

During the raid Israel blocked ambulances from entering the camp to transport seriously ill patients, Mahmoud Al-Saadi, director of the Palestinian Red Crescent in the northern West Bank city, said.

“The army did not allow us to enter,” despite attempts to coordinate with the International Red Cross and the U.N. Palestinian relief agency, he said, adding soldiers were also stationed outside the hospital.

‘Leave the West Bank’

Alaa Al Sadi, who lives in the Jenin camp, said soldiers who came to his home searching for guns smashed his television before taking him blindfolded into detention at an army compound outside the city for about 14 hours, along with hundreds of other people.

The soldiers found no guns but demolished his family home and accused him of being a member of Hamas, telling him he should leave the West Bank and move to Lebanon or Syria, Al Sadi, 44, said in an interview. He denied any links to the Hamas.

The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment about Alaa Al Sadi’s account.

Turkiye strongly condemns “provocations” by Israeli forces during raids on a refugee camp and the desecration of a mosque there, Turkiye’s foreign ministry said, calling for those responsible to be punished.

“We strongly condemn the provocations of Israeli soldiers who stormed the Jenin Refugee Camp, and disrespected sanctity of a place of worship by entering the mosque,” Spokesman Oncu Keceli said on social messaging platform X late on Thursday.

“In East Jerusalem and the West Bank, where tensions are running extremely high due to settler terror and heavy pressure and attacks by Israeli security forces against Palestinians, we expect attacks on Muslim holy places to be ended immediately and those who perpetrate these provocations to be punished in the most severe way,” he added.

The Palestinian government criticised the operation inside Jenin as a “dangerous escalation” and in a statement said the desecration of the mosque by some Israeli troops fanned religious tension. Israel’s army said it would discipline the soldiers.

The majority of the people taken into detention earlier in the raid have since been released, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Club, an advocacy group, said in a statement.

Published in Dawn, December 16th, 2023