Fatalities in West Bank highest last year since 2005, says UN

Fatalities and injuries among West Bank Palestinians caused by Israeli forces were the highest in 2015 since UN began recording such figures in 2005, and so were casualties among Israelis from attacks by West Bank Palestinians, a UN report said on Monday.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Monday published its 2015 Annual Humanitarian Overview report on the occupied Palestinian territory.

According to the report, 171 Palestinians and 25 Israelis were killed during various attacks in 2015, compared with 2,314 and 87 respectively in 2014.

The report said that while most of 2015 witnessed a relative calm compared to 2014, tension rose in September in east Jerusalem with protests, clashes and violence spreading to the remaining occupied Palestinian territory.

"Due to the upsurge in violence in the last quarter, 2015 recorded the highest number of casualties among West Bank Palestinians since 2005. Israeli casualties in the West Bank and Israel, among both Israeli forces and civilians, were also the highest since 2005," the report noted.

In Gaza Strip, the report said that the August 2014 ceasefire has largely held, as reflected in the relatively low numbers of fatalities, although casualties rose in the final quarter of the year, alongside the deterioration seen in the West Bank.

Displacement also remained a prominent concern with at least 70,000 Palestinians remaining displaced and facing difficult living conditions, following the destruction of their homes during the 2014 escalation of hostilities. Enditem