Israel must 'do more' about settler violence in West Bank: US

WASHINGTON

A US diplomat condemned settler violence in the West Bank on Tuesday and demanded that Israel "do more" to stop attacks.

"As Special Coordinator Wennesland highlighted, the events that have unfolded in the West Bank over the last year have moved us farther away from that reality,” Deputy US Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood told the UN Security Council, referring to an independent Palestinian state. “That includes the ongoing construction of settlements in the West Bank, which undermines the possibility."

The US condemns these "violent attacks, period. We believe the perpetrators must be held accountable,” he said.

"And we have repeatedly underscored to the Israeli government that it, too, must do more to investigate this violence and hold extremist settlers who have committed it, responsible.

"More than that, Israeli officials must not fan the flames of this violence with incendiary, dehumanizing rhetoric, because we have seen the ways in which words have consequences not only in the West Bank but around the world," he added.

In the past two months, he said there has been a spike in antisemitism and Islamophobia.

Turning to the attacks on journalists, Wood said more must be done to protect reporters.

Journalists are not just witnessing what is happening, he said. "There are few callings more noble than telling the truth. Journalists’ words change hearts and minds and move people to action," he added.

Israel's air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas have killed at least 19,667 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 52,586, according to health authorities in the enclave.

The war has left Gaza in ruins with half of the coastal territory's housing stock damaged or destroyed, and nearly 2 million residents displaced within the densely-populated enclave amid shortages of food and clean water.

Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack, while more than 130 hostages remain in captivity.