Jerusalem: UN officials stated on Tuesday that the occupied West Bank has reached a critical "breaking point," highlighting a record surge in violence by Israeli occupiers and a systematic unraveling of Palestinian statehood.
According to Anadolu Agency, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Hannan Sulieman addressed the Security Council, emphasizing that humanitarian organizations cannot create the political conditions needed for children's safety, a responsibility that lies with member states. Sulieman presented four urgent requests to the international community, including ending administrative detention, halting forced displacements, ensuring safe access to schools and hospitals, and allowing unhindered movement of vital humanitarian supplies.
Sulieman reported a harrowing toll on minors, noting that 174 Palestinian children have been verified killed in the occupied West Bank since January 2024, averaging more than one child every week. She further revealed that at least 355 Palestinian children are currently held in military detention, the highest in eight years, with nearly half detained without charge or trial.
Deputy Special Coordinator Ramiz Alakbarov echoed the alarm, describing the situation as an emergency requiring immediate action to prevent de facto annexation. He stated that in 2026, dozens of Palestinians have been killed, and approximately 3,800 displaced due to demolitions, evictions, and attacks by occupiers. Alakbarov emphasized the unprecedented levels of settler violence, with over 1,400 documented incidents this year affecting 260 communities, and warned of a pattern of forced removal of Palestinian populations from their villages, with occupiers seizing vacated land.
Alakbarov also highlighted the acute fiscal crisis facing the Palestinian Authority (PA), which reportedly lacks $6 billion in clearance revenues withheld by Israeli authorities. Amid the turmoil, he welcomed preparations for legislative elections scheduled for Nov. 28, noting that interconnected steps, rather than isolated developments, aim to weaken Palestinian governance.
Alakbarov concluded that the ongoing situation, if left unaddressed, will undermine the implementation of resolution 2803 (2025) and erode prospects for a negotiated Israeli-Palestinian peace based on the two-state solution. He urged immediate and full implementation of resolution 2803 and the New York Declaration, which endorses a peace plan proposed by US President Donald Trump for the Gaza Strip and a temporary international force in the enclave following two years of war.
Since the start of Israel's actions in Gaza on Oct. 8, 2023, Israeli forces and occupiers have escalated attacks in the West Bank, resulting in over 1,183 Palestinian deaths, 13,000 injuries, and nearly 25,000 arrests, according to Palestinian figures. Palestinians warn that the escalation is part of Israeli efforts to impose facts on the ground, paving the way for annexation of the occupied West Bank and undermining the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders under relevant UN resolutions.