The Middle East, including the Palestinian Question: Briefing on the West Bank
Tomorrow morning (11 August), the Security Council will hold an open briefing on “The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question” (MEPQ). The Council’s five European members—Denmark, France, Greece, Latvia, and the UK, collectively known as the “E5”—requested the meeting to discuss the recent escalation in violence in the West Bank. Bahrain, China, Pakistan, and Russia supported the request. The anticipated briefers are Deputy Special Coordinator and Resident Coordinator at the Office of the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) Ramiz Alakbarov and UNICEF Deputy Executive Director for Management Hannan Sulieman.
While Gaza has been the site of the most intense fighting in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, violence has also reached historically high levels in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. According to the latest monthly snapshot on the West Bank issued on 27 July by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 303 Palestinians—including 70 children—were killed between January 2025 and the end of June 2026, while 18 Israelis—including one child—were killed during the same period. The snapshot records a steady increase in attacks by Israeli settlers resulting in casualties, property damage, or both over successive calendar years, rising from 1,291 in 2023 to 1,449 in 2024 and 1,836 in 2025. The Secretary-General’s most recent quarterly report on the implementation of resolution 2334 of 23 December 2016, dated 24 June, found that settler violence in 2026 had reached the highest sustained levels ever recorded by the UN, averaging six attacks per day since the start of the year.
There has been a further surge in violence in recent weeks. In late July alone, eight Palestinians and two Israelis were killed in separate incidents in Nablus, Jenin, and East Jerusalem. This made July, alongside March 2026, the deadliest month for Palestinians in the West Bank since October 2023, according to OCHA. In response to the incident in Nablus, Alakbarov issued a statement on 24 July calling on Israel to prevent settler violence and ensure accountability and on Palestinians to reject violence and incitement. He and several Council members may echo these messages at tomorrow’s briefing.
Settler violence has also combined with Israeli military operations, demolitions, and access restrictions to produce what the Secretary-General’s report described as the “largest displacement crisis” in the West Bank since 1967. OCHA’s monthly snapshot recorded 40,965 Palestinians displaced between January 2025 and June 2026, including approximately 15,617 children. More than 33,000 of these are residents of the Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams refugee camps, which remain empty and closed to their inhabitants 19 months after Israel launched security operations there in January 2025. Demolitions of Palestinian structures have accelerated in parallel: according to OCHA’s most recent update, dated 7 August, the monthly average of structures demolished since 2024 has been at least double the average of the preceding 15 years.
These trends have unfolded against the backdrop of intensifying settlement expansion in the West Bank. The Secretary-General’s report expressed particular concern about the E1 settlement project that the Israeli government approved last August, which would effectively sever the connection between the northern and southern West Bank, threatening the territorial contiguity of the OPT and presenting “an existential threat to the two-State solution”. The report further noted that the government approved 34 settlements in March, representing the largest such approval in a single cabinet decision to date. In total, the current government has approved over 100 settlements since 2022, compared with 127 approved by all previous governments since 1967. This acceleration has occurred alongside a series of recent government measures intended to deepen Israeli administrative control over parts of the West Bank, including the launch in May of an online platform for land registration—implementing a government decision taken in February—and the adoption in June of a law extending tax benefits to settlements.
Sulieman is expected to focus on the dire situation facing children. According to the Secretary-General’s most recent annual report on children and armed conflict, dated 16 June and covering developments in 2025, the UN verified 12,445 grave violations against children in Israel and the OPT—the highest number recorded in any situation worldwide—of which 5,452 occurred in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. There, the UN verified the killing of 57 children and the maiming of 698 children, as well as 608 attacks on schools and hospitals and 4,080 incidents of denial of humanitarian access. The UN also verified the detention of 964 children by Israeli forces for alleged security offences, while Israeli authorities reported that 180 children were in administrative detention without charge or trial as at 31 December 2025. Sixty-six children testified to physical violence and other ill-treatment in detention.
Notably, the report attributed 326 verified violations to Israeli settlers in the OPT and expressed concern at what it described as a “staggering rise” in settler attacks resulting in grave violations against Palestinian children, including in proximity to and with the frequent support of Israeli security forces. It warned that if the high number of violations is repeated in 2026 without meaningful improvement, Israeli settler groups should be listed in the annexes to a future report. In 2024, Israeli security forces were listed for killing and maiming and attacks on schools and hospitals, while the armed wings of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad were listed for killing and maiming and the abduction of children. This year’s report calls on each actor to sign an action plan with the UN to end and prevent these grave violations against children.
Tomorrow’s meeting is the latest in a series of efforts by Council members to sustain attention on the West Bank at a time when the Council’s engagement on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has focused largely on Gaza, and when a volatile regional context has competed for members’ attention. On 8 May, the E5 convened an Arria-formula meeting on the West Bank, and on 4 June members held closed consultations at Bahrain’s request on Israeli measures in the territory. At the latter session, it seems that nearly all Council members expressed concern that Israel’s actions in the West Bank—which observers have described as a policy of “de facto annexation”—were jeopardising the viability of the two-state solution. The US, however, apparently blocked draft press elements affirming the Council’s opposition to annexation, despite stating its own opposition in this regard.
These dynamics may also be reflected in statements at tomorrow’s meeting. Most members are expected to reiterate their opposition to settlement expansion, settler violence, and Israel’s unilateral measures. Several are also likely to recall the July 2024 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which determined that Israel must “end its unlawful presence in the [OPT] as rapidly as possible”, and the New York Declaration that the General Assembly endorsed in September 2025, which outlined a roadmap to implement a two-state solution. Some members are also likely to press for concrete protection and accountability measures; several—including France and the UK—have sanctioned violent settlers and signalled readiness to take further steps. As Israel’s closest ally on the Council, the US is likely to be less critical but may reiterate its opposition to annexation.
Despite the expected focus on the West Bank, members are also likely to discuss developments related to Gaza and efforts to implement resolution 2803 of 17 November 2025. This resolution endorsed the US-brokered “Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict” and created the Board of Peace (BoP)—chaired by US President Donald Trump—as a “transitional governance administration” in the enclave. On 30 July, the BoP announced that it and the mediating countries—Egypt, Qatar, Türkiye, and the US—had reached an agreement with Hamas on a 15-point roadmap for implementing the next phase of the Comprehensive Plan, including Hamas’ disarmament and the withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) from Gaza.
The roadmap’s content and political prospects appear unclear, however. Following a meeting between BoP High Representative to Gaza Nickolay Mladenov and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 3 August, the BoP issued a statement that appeared to modify certain terms of the roadmap in Israel’s favour. Yesterday (9 August), Netanyahu cast further doubt on his commitment to the plan, reportedly stating that “Israel is ruling out the 15-point document”. Tomorrow, most Council members are likely to welcome the roadmap as important progress towards implementing the Comprehensive Plan and a two-state solution, while some may seek clarity on its obligations and stress the importance of both parties fulfilling their commitments in good faith. Sulieman may note that at least 300 children have been killed in Gaza in the 300 days since the current ceasefire was announced in October 2025 and reiterate UNICEF’s call on all parties to comply with their obligations under international law and to protect children and safeguard their access to essential goods and services.
