The United States twice publicly warned Israel this past week to put a halt to extremist settler violence against Palestinians.
“We must not go back to the status quo where extremist settlers can attack and terrorize Palestinians in the West Bank,” US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said on Friday in a public address she delivered to the plenum on the Gaza war.
On Wednesday US President Joe Biden also spoke out on the issue.
Extremist settlers alarm Biden
“I continue to be alarmed about extremist settlers attacking Palestinians in the West Bank that — pouring gasoline on fire is what it’s like,” he said during a joint press conference with Australia’s prime minister in Washington.
“They’re attacking Palestinians in places that they’re entitled to be, and it has to stop. They have to be held accountable. And it has to stop now,” he said.
According to the United Nations Office of the Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs, there have been 146 settler attacks against Palestinians since the start of the war. Palestinians were injured in 22 of these incidents and Palestinian property was damaged in 100 incidents, amounting to seven total incidents a day, the OCHA reported.