ICRC warns West Bank living conditions have become unbearable

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has stated that escalating violence, increased movement restrictions, and rapid settlement expansion in the West Bank are making daily life unbearable for civilians. According to the ICRC, dozens of Palestinians have been killed and hundreds injured this year alone, with many others displaced as homes and property face damage or destruction.

Julian Le Yerison, the ICRC head of mission in Israel and the Occupied Territories, emphasized that authorities have a responsibility to protect the population from violence, including settler violence. He noted that movement restrictions prevent patients from accessing healthcare and children from attending school, while ambulances are sometimes delayed for hours at checkpoints.

Le Yerison reminded that while Israel has the right to take security measures, as the occupying power in the West Bank, it has an obligation under international humanitarian law to treat protected persons humanely and protect them from all acts of violence or threats.