US Deeply Concerned by Escalating Violence in West Bank  

Palestinians walk past an Israeli military guard tower with two robotic guns and surveillance cameras at the Aroub refugee camp in the West Bank, Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Palestinians walk past an Israeli military guard tower with two robotic guns and surveillance cameras at the Aroub refugee camp in the West Bank, Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
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US Deeply Concerned by Escalating Violence in West Bank  

Palestinians walk past an Israeli military guard tower with two robotic guns and surveillance cameras at the Aroub refugee camp in the West Bank, Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Palestinians walk past an Israeli military guard tower with two robotic guns and surveillance cameras at the Aroub refugee camp in the West Bank, Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

The US State Department has said it was deeply concerned by increasing violence in the occupied West Bank, urging Israel and the Palestinians to “take urgent action” for de-escalation.

“The United States is deeply concerned by the increased violence in the West Bank,” US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Wednesday.

"We convey profound condolences to the families and loved ones of the Israeli and Palestinian civilians, including children, who have been killed in the past 48 hours," Price said in a statement.

The spokesperson further condemned an attack that killed three Israelis and wounded three others in the northern West Bank settlement of Ariel.

Price also shed light on the incident in which Israeli forces shot and killed a 15-year-old Palestinian girl during a pre-dawn raid in the West Bank on Monday.

Fulla Masalmeh, 15, was shot dead by the Israeli forces near Ramallah.

The United Nations coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Tor Wennesland, described it as “a tragic killing”, saying “this requires an immediate and thorough investigation into her death."

“The recent period has seen a sharp and alarming increase in Palestinian and Israeli deaths and injuries, including numerous children. It is vital that the parties take urgent action to prevent further loss of life," Price continued. 

Israel is bracing for increased escalation in the West Bank.

Israeli security forces have stepped up their level of alert in the West Bank following the Ariel attack.

The Israeli army issued orders to the West Bank Military Division to raise the state of alert among the forces during the next 72 hours, in anticipation of more operations.

Some Israeli media claimed that - according to Palestinian security officers - Hamas stands behind the social media campaigns documenting a stabbing video because it seeks to undermine confidence in the Palestinian Authority and its popular legitimacy.

The PA managed during the past three weeks to de-escalate tension in the region, especially in Nablus.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz said that the wave that began last March “is no longer really a wave, but seems like a kind of new reality, which is likely to be long-term.”

“There are ups and downs in the extent of the violence, but the violence itself is now almost a permanent fact, even if it doesn’t reach the dimensions of a third intifada. There is never total quiet in the West Bank. There is permanent friction,” Haaretz added.

Israel has killed 198 Palestinians this year, including 146 in the West Bank. Palestinians have killed 29 Israelis, the highest toll since 2005.

In March, Israel launched the Waves Breaker operation in the West Bank following a series of Palestinian attacks against Israelis.



Germany Hands Syrian Doctor Life for Torturing Assad Critics

Syrian doctor Alaa M., accused of crimes against humanity, arrives for his judgment in the security room of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 16 June 2025. (EPA)
Syrian doctor Alaa M., accused of crimes against humanity, arrives for his judgment in the security room of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 16 June 2025. (EPA)
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Germany Hands Syrian Doctor Life for Torturing Assad Critics

Syrian doctor Alaa M., accused of crimes against humanity, arrives for his judgment in the security room of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 16 June 2025. (EPA)
Syrian doctor Alaa M., accused of crimes against humanity, arrives for his judgment in the security room of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 16 June 2025. (EPA)

A Syrian doctor who had practiced in Germany was sentenced to life in prison by a German court on Monday for crimes against humanity and war crimes after he was found guilty of torturing dissidents in Syria.

The 40-year-old, identified only as Alaa M. in accordance with German privacy laws, was found guilty of killing two people and torturing another eight during his time working in Syria as a doctor at a military hospital and detention center in Homs in 2011 and 2012.

The court said his crimes were part of a systematic attack against people protesting against then-President Bashar al-Assad that precipitated the country's civil war.

Assad was toppled in December. His government denied it tortured prisoners.

Alaa M. arrived in Germany in 2015, after fleeing to Germany among a large influx of Syrian refugees, and became one of roughly 10,000 Syrian medics who helped ease acute staff shortages in the country's healthcare system.

He was arrested in June 2020, and was handed a life sentence without parole, the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt said in a statement.

The defendant had pleaded not guilty, saying he was the target of a conspiracy.

German prosecutors have used universal jurisdiction laws that allow them to seek trials for suspects in crimes against humanity committed anywhere in the world.

They have targeted several former Syrian officials in similar cases in recent years.

The plaintiffs were supported by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights.

ECCHR lawyer Patrick Kroker called Monday's ruling "a further step towards a comprehensive reckoning with Assad's crimes".

Judges found that the doctor caused "considerable physical suffering" as a result of the torture inflicted on his victims, which included serious beatings, mistreating wounds and inflicting serious injury to the genitals of two prisoners, one of whom was a teenage boy.

Two patients died after he gave them lethal medication, the court statement said.

Monday's ruling can be appealed.