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Responding to the Israeli raid Thursday, the State Department said the U.S. was “deeply concerned by the escalating cycle of violence in the West Bank.”
Washington “condemned” the actions of terrorist groups carrying out attacks against innocent civilians, and also regretted the loss of innocent lives, deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said.
Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa research and advocacy director, Philip Luther, condemned the actions of Israeli soldiers, who Palestinian officials said had blocked ambulance workers in Jenin from accessing the wounded and fired tear gas at a hospital.
So far this year, 30 Palestinians — both civilians and fighters — have been killed including five children, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. It added that 19 of those killed were from Jenin.
A statement by the United Nations special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Tor Wennesland, said he was “deeply alarmed and saddened by the continuing cycle of violence,” that was reminiscent of 2022.
Last year, 146 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, the largest number since 2004 during a wave of intense violence known as the Second Intifada, or Palestinian uprising, according to a report by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, which is based on an independent investigation that included testimony and evidence collated by field workers, footage, media and social media.
Among those killed last year were five women and 34 children, said B’Tselem, which also said that five Palestinian civilians were killed by Israeli civilians.
In 2022, 29 people were killed by Palestinians in Israel, east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, according to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Twenty-three civilians — including one child — and six members of Israel’s security forces died.
Lawahez Jabari, Paul Goldman and Associated Press contributed.
