Palestinian Information Center denounces Israeli attacks in the West Bank and calls on the Kast government to condemn the offensive

The Palestinian Information Center (CIP Chile) condemned this Saturday the escalation of violence in the West Bank and called on President José Antonio Kast's government to adopt diplomatic measures in response to Israeli military operations and settler attacks against the Palestinian population. Through a public statement, the organization accused the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of pursuing a policy of collective punishment, after he announced new military operations and the demolition of homes in the city of Hebron. According to the information presented by the CIP, the measures were announced following an armed confrontation that left two Israeli soldiers and two Palestinians dead, and include the closure of the West Bank, a large-scale military operation, and the destruction of the neighborhood from which the attackers allegedly came. In that context, the organization stated that Israeli forces have already begun demolishing Palestinian structures in the Farsh al-Hawa area of Hebron. It also warned that Netanyahu would seek to replicate the military operations carried out in 2025 in the Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps, which, according to figures cited by the organization, caused the displacement of at least 33,000 Palestinians. The CIP criticized that these measures constitute reprisals against the civilian population and recalled that Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits collective punishment, while Article 53 restricts the destruction of property by an occupying power. The organization maintains that "international humanitarian law establishes a fundamental distinction between civilians and combatants; in that sense, soldiers may constitute legitimate military targets during hostilities. Automatically labeling all Palestinian armed action as terrorism, without considering its context or the applicable norms, amounts to omitting fundamental legal distinctions." Call to the government In that scenario, the Palestinian Information Center demanded that President Kast's government, in compliance with the international treaties ratified by Chile, publicly condemn the attacks against the Palestinian population. It also asked the Executive to adopt concrete diplomatic measures to demand an end to home demolitions, collective punishment, and violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank. They report an increase in settler attacks In its statement, the organization also warned of an increase in attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinian communities in the West Bank, charging that these incidents frequently occur with the participation, protection, or tolerance of the Israeli army. Along those lines, it cited information from the Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din, which reportedly recorded 672 incidents of settler violence between September 27 and October 22. To this it added figures from the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, which, according to the CIP, documented 409 attacks against Palestinian farmers between October 1 and 21, in addition to damage to and destruction of agricultural land. Among the reported aggressions are physical assaults, threats with firearms, live ammunition fire, theft of harvests, and the burning of olive groves. The organization also criticized the media coverage of the conflict, accusing a "double standard" when labeling Palestinian armed actions and Israeli military operations.