The foreign ministers of Germany, Italy, France, and the United Kingdom issued a joint statement on Thursday calling on Israel to respect international law and safeguard Palestinian civilians in the occupied territories.
They condemned the unprecedented surge in violence by illegal Israeli paramilitary colonizers against Palestinians in the West Bank.
The ministers noted that colonizer attacks reached record levels in October, with 264 incidents documented by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the highest monthly figure since records began in 2006.
They warned that such violence spreads fear among civilians, undermines peace efforts, and threatens long‑term stability, including the implementation of the twenty‑point plan for Gaza.
The statement urged Israel to fulfill its legal obligations by protecting Palestinians and holding perpetrators accountable.
It also reiterated opposition to annexation in any form and criticized colonialist expansion, highlighting the approval of the E1 project in August and more than 3,000 new units in recent weeks, bringing the total approved this year to 28,000.
The ministers called on Israel to reverse these policies, which they said violate international law and fragment the West Bank.
They further condemned Israel’s withholding of Palestinian tax revenues, describing the measure as unjustified.
The statement demanded the release of funds, expansion of banking cooperation, and increased currency transfers, stressing that these steps are vital for the Palestinian Authority’s ability to provide public services.
Weakening the Palestinian Authority, they warned, undermines its capacity to implement reforms and assume responsibility in Gaza, as outlined in UN Security Council Resolution 2803, and risks destabilizing the region.
The ministers concluded by reaffirming their countries’ commitment to a negotiated two‑state solution as the only viable path to a just and lasting resolution of the conflict.
At dawn Thursday, Illegal Israeli paramilitary colonizers burnt the Al-Falah Mosque in Biddya, west of Salfit, in the occupied West Bank’s central part.
Salfit has become a focal point of escalating colonizer violence, with this latest attack following a series of assaults on religious sites, including the burning of the Hajjah Hamida Mosque earlier this month.
At dawn on Tuesday, Illegal paramilitary Israeli colonizers stormed a Palestinian home in the town of Silwad, northeast of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank’s central part, vandalizing its contents.
On Monday, Israeli colonizers, accompanied by occupation forces, carried out several assaults, attacking Palestinian farmers in Mikhmas northeast of occupied Jerusalem and torching agricultural lands between Atara and Birzeit north of Ramallah, and uprooting trees northeast of Ramallah.
Furthermore, Israeli colonizers conducted a series of assaults across the occupied West Bank, including livestock theft in Hebron, physical attacks on a driver near Jericho, the establishment of a new outpost in the northern Jordan Valley, violent assaults on Palestinian vehicles and farmland in the South Hebron Hills, and assaults near Qalqilia, in northern West Bank,
These assaults have included home invasions, arson targeting property, and physical attacks against residents — all carried out under the protection and support of Israeli occupation forces.
Observers note that such actions are part of ongoing attempts to expand illegal outposts and impose further restrictions on Palestinian communities.
All of Israel’s colonies in the occupied West Bank, including those in and around occupied East Jerusalem, are illegal under International Law, the Fourth Geneva Convention in addition to various United Nations and Security Council resolutions. They also constitute war crimes under International Law.
Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits collective punishment and acts of terror against civilian populations.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” It also prohibits the “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory”.
Articles 53 and 147, prohibit the destruction of civilian property and classify pillage as a war crime.
