The United Nations Rights Office has described “alarming” conditions in the occupied West Bank, saying Israeli forces were increasingly using military tactics and weapons in law enforcement operations there, Reuters reports.

“While much attention has been on the (Hamas) attacks inside Israel and the escalation of hostilities in Gaza since the 7th of October, the situation in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is alarming and urgent,” said Liz Throssell, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

Throssell said Israeli forces were increasingly using military tactics and weapons in law enforcement operations while settler violence against Palestinian inhabitants, which was already at record levels, had “escalated dramatically”.

“We have documented that in many of these incidents, settlers were accompanied by members of the Israeli forces, or the settlers were wearing uniforms and carrying army rifles,” she said.

“Along with the near-total impunity for settler violence, we are concerned that armed settlers have been acting with the acquiescence and collaboration of Israeli forces and authorities.”