Country: occupied Palestinian territory Source: UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Please refer to the attached file. [As Delivered] Mister President, Excellencies, Today’s briefing is devoted to the thirty-seventh report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of Security Council resolution 2334 (2016). It covers the period from 3 December 2025 to 13 March 2026. Security Council resolution 2334 (2016) calls on Israel to “immediately and completely cease all settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem” and to “fully respect all of its legal obligations in this regard.” Settlement activity has, nevertheless, continued at high levels. During the reporting period, Israeli planning authorities advanced or approved over 6,000 housing units in the occupied West Bank, including approximately 3,160 housing units in Area C, and 2,850 housing units in East Jerusalem. The Israeli Housing Ministry published tenders for 5,375 housing units in Area C, out of which 3,401 are located in the area of E1. On 8 February, the Israeli cabinet approved a series of measures that would expand Israeli civil authority in the occupied West Bank and further consolidate Israeli planning, enforcement and administrative control, including in parts of Areas A and B. These measures include transfer of Hebron municipal authorities, such as construction permits in the Ibrahimi Mosque/Tomb of the Patriarchs, to Israeli authorities. The measures, which mostly require implementation via military orders, would also remove regulatory barriers on land acquisition and construction by Israelis and purport to shift certain authorities from the Palestinian Authority to the Israeli Civil Administration. On 15 February, the Israeli Government approved a plan to resume land registration processes in Area C of the occupied West Bank and allocated some 244 million shekels [approximately 78 million USD] for this purpose. Demolitions and seizures of Palestinian-owned structures also accelerated. Citing the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, which are almost impossible for Palestinians to obtain, Israeli authorities demolished, seized or forced people to demolish 429 structures in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, displacing 575 persons, including 290 children and 150 women. 28 of these structures were donor funded. Evictions of Palestinians from their homes in occupied East Jerusalem also continued. On 4 January, the Israeli police forcibly evicted two Palestinian families from their apartments in the Batn Al Hawa area of Silwan, in occupied East Jerusalem, displacing eight people. Settlers took over the building shortly thereafter. This is the sixth eviction incident in Batn al Hawa since February 2024. On 10 February 2026, Israeli authorities issued eviction notices against 11 Palestinian families in the same neighborhood, affecting approximately 80 individuals, including children. Mister President, Security Council resolution 2334 (2016) calls for “immediate steps to prevent all acts of violence against civilians, including acts of terror, as well as all acts of provocation and destruction.” Acts of violence against civilians continued, with the high number of fatal incidents, precluding me from detailing all. The ceasefire in Gaza remained highly fragile as Israel Defense Forces (IDF) military operations continued with airstrikes, shelling and gunfire across the Strip, including in the vicinity of the so-called Yellow Line, while Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups engaged in armed exchanges with IDF personnel. During the reporting period, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, 292 Palestinians were killed in IDF airstrikes, shelling and gunfire in Gaza, and 1,741 were injured. A total of 651 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire went into effect. On 30-31 January, the IDF carried out a series of airstrikes across Gaza, killing 33 Palestinians, including 7 women and 7 children. The IDF said it targeted Hamas and Islamic Jihad commanders and sites throughout Gaza after eight militants emerged from a tunnel in Rafah on 30 January, three of whom were killed and one captured. On 26 January, the body of the final Israeli hostage held in Gaza was found and identified by the IDF following a search in Gaza City and returned to his family. Israeli forces reportedly exhumed and removed Palestinian bodies from burial sites in Gaza. Meanwhile, the high levels of violence in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, continued at an alarming rate. Overall, in the occupied West Bank, 32 Palestinians, including seven children, were killed during large scale Israeli Security Forces operations, armed exchanges, settler attacks, and other incidents. 833 Palestinians, including 138 children, were injured, including 172 by Israel Security Forces due to tear gas inhalation and 141 by live ammunition, and 322 by Israeli settlers and other civilians. According t
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