The United Nations said Thursday that Israeli raids on the offices of seven Palestinian human rights organizations in the West Bank earlier in the day “cannot be taken lightly” and called for the protection of civil society groups.

Israeli occupation troops raided the offices around Ramallah, sealing entrance doors and leaving notices declaring them closed. Last year, the occupation authorities designated the organizations as ‘terror groups’, saying they effectively operate as an arm of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine organization.

The groups accuse the Zionist entity of trying to silence criticism and alleged human rights abuses.

A UN spokesperson said Thursday that the UN was “studying” the Israeli raids and that the world body had expressed concern last year after Israeli designation of the groups as ‘terror’ organizations.

“It needs to be underscored, in every country, that the authorities need to take particular care to make sure that human rights groups and civil society organizations can go about their work without hindrance,” Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the UN secretary-general, said in response to the raids.

The UN will look at the charges that prompted the Israeli actions against the Palestinian groups, he said.

“Those are actions that cannot be taken lightly, so it would take quite a bit to convince us of what was at issue,” Haq said. “It remains to be seen what the details are behind these charges.”

“The main thing that needs to be done is to make sure that there’s no targeting of groups for their human rights work,” he said.

Source: Agencies