Gaza: The West Bank is at the breaking point, Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Ramiz Alakbarov warned on Tuesday. Addressing a meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, Alakbarov stated that as of August 10, 76 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank in 2026, including 18 minors.
According to Palestine News and Information Agency - WAFA, Alakbarov added that in 2026 alone, 3,800 Palestinians, nearly half of them children, have been displaced due to settler violence, demolitions, and evictions. He stressed that settler violence has reached unprecedented levels, with the UN documenting more than 1,430 incidents this year, affecting approximately 260 Palestinian communities.
Alakbarov emphasized that the pattern is clear: Palestinians are being forcibly displaced across the West Bank before settlers seize the vacated land. He noted that Israeli colonist attacks, previously concentrated in Area C, are increasingly reported in Area B and even Area A. The UNSC held this session, the second in two weeks amid escalating violence in the West Bank affecting Palestinians, at the request of European Council members, supported by Bahrain, China, Pakistan, and the Russian Federation.
Meanwhile, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Deputy Executive Director Hannan Sulieman shared the story of a grandmother in the West Bank who was afraid to leave her home after a grenade was thrown into her kitchen while her grandchildren were inside. "The fundamental spaces of childhood - the home, the classroom, the street, the community - are becoming increasingly unsafe," she warned.
Between January 2024 and July 2026, 174 Palestinian children were verified killed by the UN in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, averaging more than one child every week. More than 1,500 children were injured, nearly half of them by live ammunition. Over the same period, 3 Israeli children were killed and 15 injured. Sulieman highlighted that 355 Palestinian children from the West Bank are being held in Israeli military detention, marking the highest number in eight years.
She urged the UNSC to protect children, end the forced displacement of Palestinian families, protect access to education and healthcare, and safeguard humanitarian operations. "Children in the West Bank have the same rights as children everywhere," she concluded, adding: "To live, to learn, to be protected and to imagine a future beyond violence and fear."