A Palestinian man Yahya Dalal, 32, inspects scrap cars burnt in an attack by Israeli settlers, in Huwara in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Nov. 21, 2025.
The U.N. on Friday warned about worsening conditions in the occupied West Bank, reporting a surge in violence that has left Palestinian civilians facing mounting casualties, displacement and insecurity.
"Turning to the West Bank, our humanitarian colleagues warned that the level of violence there remains deeply concerning, with casualties, property damage, displacement, loss of livelihoods and a strong sense of insecurity for Palestinian civilians," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.
This week, Dujarric said the number of Palestinian children killed in 2025 reached 50.
"Overall, more than 200 Palestinians have now been killed by Israeli forces since the start of the year," he said.
The Israeli army has escalated attacks in the West Bank since the outbreak of the war in the Gaza Strip in October 2023.
More than 1,076 Palestinians have since been killed, and 10,700 injured in attacks by the army and illegal settlers in the occupied territory. More than 20,500 people have also been arrested.
In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Two Palestinian youths killed in clashes on the fringes of Jerusalem
Israeli forces fatally shot two Palestinian teenagers on the outskirts of Jerusalem, the Palestinian Authority said Friday, while the Israeli police said they had opened fire on people posing a threat.
"The young man Amr Khaled Ahmed Al-Marbou (18) and the boy Sami Ibrahim Sami Mashayekh (16) were martyred by occupation forces gunfire in the town of Kufr Aqab," the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement.
Israeli police told AFP that during a deployment in Kufr Aqab overnight, it fired "at four individuals who posed an immediate threat to the personnel" during clashes involving dozens of individuals who threw rocks and fireworks.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said it transported two people from Kufr Aqab to a hospital during the night, both with gunshot wounds.
Several hundred people, mostly young men, took part in the funeral processions for Marbou and Mashayekh on Friday, clapping and chanting.
The deceased were draped in Palestinian flags with their heads covered with the traditional black and white Palestinian keffiyeh. Relatives recited prayers around the bodies.
Oday al-Shurfa, a friend of Marbou, told AFP he witnessed the incident, which occurred during clashes between Israeli forces and local Palestinians.
"He was just standing there, not holding or throwing stones -- just like the others," he said.
Shurfa said Marbou was hit "in the chest, in the heart. He collapsed and was martyred on the spot," he said.
A relative of Marbou, who declined to give her name, told AFP: "He was with four others; one of them was also killed, another is in critical condition," and another suffered a serious hand injury.
"What kind of brutality is this?" she said.
The Palestinian Authority later said that Israeli forces killed a man it named as Younis Walid Mohammed Ashtiyeh, 24, in the town of Tal, southwest of Nablus.
Palestinian media reported that he was a police officer.
Later on Friday, Israeli border police said they had "eliminated the terrorist who fired at and injured a reserve combat soldier during operational activity yesterday (Thursday)".
"The terrorist was an operative in the Palestinian Police," a joint statement from the border police, the military and the Shin Bet internal security agency said, adding that others were arrested.
An AFP photographer in the area on Friday saw dozens of burned0out cars in Huwara, as well as a home that was set on fire in the village of Ammuriya.
Residents said the fires in both areas had been started by settlers.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.
Kufr Aqab is part of east Jerusalem, an area of the West Bank annexed by Israel. Although part of the Jerusalem municipality, Kufr Aqab is separated from it by the barrier built by Israel.
The town does not receive proper services from the Jerusalem municipality due to the barrier, nor does it receive them from the adjacent Palestinian towns of Ramallah and Al-Bireh.
