“The future of Gaza and the West Bank are one. A drawdown in Gaza should not become an opportunity to tighten the grip of occupation elsewhere,” said Roland Friedrich, Director of UNRWA Affairs for the occupied West Bank, in a statement on the social media platform X.
A ceasefire in Gaza took effect on Oct. 10 under a phased plan presented by US President Donald Trump.
Friedrich said there has been a sharp escalation in settler violence and settlement expansion across the West Bank, describing it as part of a broader campaign “pushing vulnerable Palestinian communities from their lands amid increasingly coercive conditions—paving the way for annexation.”
Palestinian data shows that illegal settlers under the protection of the Israeli regime have carried out 7,154 attacks against Palestinians and their property since October 2023, killing 33 Palestinians and displacing 33 Bedouin communities.
Friedrich added that northern refugee camps in Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams have been emptied, with residents barred from returning under restrictive military policies imposed by the regime.
He reaffirmed UNRWA’s commitment to work with all sides “to ensure a comprehensive outcome that can form the cornerstone of peace and stability for the entirety of the occupied Palestinian territory.”
Since October 2023, the Israeli regime’s military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 68,200 people and injured over 170,300, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
In the occupied West Bank, attacks by Israeli forces and settlers have surged during the same period, leaving at least 1,056 Palestinians dead, around 10,300 injured, and over 20,000 detained, including 1,600 children, according to official Palestinian figures.