The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Friday that the Israeli occupation authorities have killed 60 Palestinians across the occupied Palestinian territories since the start of 2016. Of the 60 killed, 16 were children. Dozens more have been arrested, especially in occupied Jerusalem.

In addition, the OCHA report showed that Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes and other structures has increased sharply this year. During the last week of July, for example, OCHA recorded 20 demolitions in Qalandia village in East Jerusalem, 15 of which were carried out on one day, 26 July. “This brings the number of Palestinian-owned structures demolished in East Jerusalem since the beginning of 2016 to 114, an over 40 per cent increase compared to the whole of 2015,” the report said.

Meanwhile, OCHA noted that the Israeli occupation forces assassinated a Palestinian during “a search and arrest operation” that targeted him in the village of Surif in the West Bank city of Hebron. The Israelis, it is reported, “used shelling and bulldozers to destroy a three-story building where the man was hiding, displacing three families of eight people, including three children.”

Another five Palestinians, including two children, were injured during the incident and six Palestinians, including one woman, were arrested, added OCHA. The man who was killed was suspected of attacking a settler family last month, killing one member and wounding others.