Afrasianet - The United Nations Office  for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) accused Israel on Friday of using "war-like" tactics against Palestinians in  the occupied West Bank, citing killings by Israeli soldiers and settler attacks on olive groves in the Palestinian territories.

Since the beginning of this month, he had received reports of settlers carrying out 32 attacks against Palestinians and their property, including attacks on farmers.

The UN office added that a preliminary report said Israeli forces killed a woman during an olive harvest near the West Bank city of Jenin yesterday.

Office spokesman Jens Laerke told a news conference in Geneva that "it is deeply worrying, frankly, that they are not only attacks on people, but also attacks on olive groves."
"The olive harvest season is an economic lifeline for tens of thousands of Palestinian families in the West Bank," he said.  

600 trees burned or stolen

The office said in a report that about 600 olive trees had been burned, cut down or stolen by settlers since the start of the harvest season.

The UN report showed a Palestinian man standing next to the trunk of an olive tree with its branches cut down.