West Bank at a Breaking Point: What the UN Security Council Heard on 11 August 2026

Toll on children: UNICEF briefing

Hannan Sulieman presented devastating figures on the impact of the crisis on children :

• Between January 2024 and July 2026, 174 Palestinian children were verified killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem — more than one child every week.
• Over 1,500 children were injured — nearly half by live ammunition.
• 355 Palestinian children from the West Bank are currently held in Israeli military detention — the highest number in eight years.
• Over the same period, 3 Israeli children were killed and 15 injured.

Sulieman warned: "The fundamental spaces of childhood – the home, the classroom, the street, the community – are becoming increasingly unsafe." She pressed the Council to protect children, end forced displacement, protect access to education and healthcare, and safeguard humanitarian operations .

Pattern of forced displacement and de facto annexation

Alakbarov told the Council that settler attacks, once concentrated in Area C, are increasingly reported in Area B (under Palestinian civil control) and even Area A (full Palestinian control) .

"The pattern is clear," he said: Palestinian populations are being forcibly displaced before settlers seize the vacated land. He described these as "interconnected steps, not isolated developments... reshaping the West Bank, weakening Palestinian governance and advancing de-facto annexation" .

International calls for accountability beyond "business as usual"

• UK (Ambassador Sarah MacIntosh): Condemned attacks by settlers "in some cases alongside IDF personnel," called the violence "appalling" and stressed that "perpetrators have acted with impunity for too long" and "much more must be done to prevent and prosecute acts of violence." The UK also condemned the E1 settlement plan, which "aims to cut the West Bank in half" .
• Alakbarov directly: Urged the Council to treat the situation as "an emergency requiring urgent action," warned the West Bank "continues to unravel" and called for full implementation of Security Council Resolution 2803 and the New York Declaration, within the framework of Resolution 2334, to "end the unlawful occupation" and advance a two-state solution .
• UNICEF (Sulieman): Pressed the Council to protect children, stating plainly that "children in the West Bank have the same rights as children everywhere" .
• Secretary-General Guterres: Has repeatedly reaffirmed that all settlements, including outposts, "have no legal validity and constitute a flagrant violation of international law" .

What's next?

The session — requested by the five European Council members (E5: Denmark, France, Greece, Latvia, UK) and supported by Bahrain, China, Pakistan, and Russia — reflected growing international alarm that the trajectory in the West Bank is interconnected with the Gaza crisis and threatens any pathway to a negotiated two-state solution .