Israeli forces demolished three Palestinian homes and began razing commercial buildings across the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, Palestinian officials said, a day after the United Nations warned that the territory was at “the breaking point”.

“The West Bank is at the breaking point,” Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, told the Security Council on Tuesday. He urged the council to treat the situation as an emergency requiring urgent action.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa said Israeli bulldozers destroyed a three-storey home in Ma’sara, south of Bethlehem, a home in Silwan in occupied East Jerusalem, and a two-storey house in the Farsh al-Hawa area of Hebron.

The owner of the Hebron property, which he said had stood for more than 70 years, told Wafa that the demolition was carried out without prior warning or an explanation.

East of Jenin, Israeli forces began demolishing commercial structures along the road between Marj Ibn Amer roundabout and the village of Aaba, Wafa reported. A local Palestinian official said the owners of about 40 structures had received notices approximately 10 days earlier.

The latest demolitions followed raids on Tuesday in which at least 23 Palestinians were detained, according to Wafa reports collated by Al Jazeera. They included two children, one of whom had a disability. Eleven detentions were reported in Jenin governorate and five around Bethlehem.

Israeli forces also blew up the apartment where Farouq Ramadan had lived with his wife and five daughters in the village of Tal, southwest of Nablus. The Israeli military said Ramadan carried out a shooting during a deadly confrontation on 24 July and described the demolition as part of its policy of deterring attacks.

Palestinian officials said the confrontation began when armed settlers approached the village and attempted to enter homes. The Israeli military initially described the Israelis as hikers, but later acknowledged that some were armed and said both sides opened fire.

Four Palestinians, an Israeli soldier and a settlement security co-ordinator were killed in the gunfire. An Israeli military investigation said the soldier was killed by Palestinian fire but could not determine whether the second Israeli was shot by a Palestinian or by other Israelis. It also remained unclear who shot Ramadan.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, Israeli forces demolished a home and filled in a water well near Yatta, displacing nine Palestinians, Wafa said. Twelve commercial warehouses were demolished in Anza, while an agricultural structure was destroyed in Yarza. Demolition notices were delivered for a school serving 12 pupils, several homes and a farm in Masafer Yatta.

In Al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah, six Palestinians suffered tear-gas inhalation, including three children and two women. The deputy head of the village council told Wafa that dozens of settlers fired tear gas while attacking Palestinians who were ploughing their land, with Israeli forces present.

The head of the Atouf and Ras al-Ahmar Village Council separately told Wafa that settlers damaged the main water pipeline serving Ras al-Ahmar, cutting supplies to about 30 herding families and farmland covering approximately 8,000 dunums.

Alakbarov told the Security Council that Israeli forces or settlers had killed 76 Palestinians in the West Bank during 2026 as of 10 August, including 18 children. Three Israelis — one civilian and two members of the security forces — were killed in confrontations with Palestinians during the same period, he said.

About 3,800 Palestinians, nearly half of them children, had been displaced this year by settler violence, demolitions and evictions, according to the UN. It documented more than 1,430 settler attacks that caused casualties or property damage across approximately 260 Palestinian communities.

Alakbarov said Israeli planning authorities had advanced or approved about 12,360 settlement homes this year, comprising 7,200 in Area C and 5,160 in occupied East Jerusalem. He said the expansion, violence and displacement were interconnected measures advancing “de facto annexation”.

Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, rejected claims that settlers were operating with impunity. He told the council that Israel was increasing enforcement against Jewish extremists and said those responsible for violence represented a small fraction of Israeli settlers. He also accused council members of overlooking attacks on Israelis.

An OCHA report published on 7 August said demolitions in Area C and East Jerusalem had displaced 22 Palestinians and affected more than 100 others in one week. It said 84 schools serving nearly 13,000 pupils were subject to full or partial demolition orders.

The UN Security Council has said Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories have no legal validity and violate international law. Israel disputes that position, describes the West Bank as disputed territory and cites historical ties to the land.

By early Wednesday afternoon, Wafa said three homes in Ma’sara, Silwan and Hebron had been demolished, while the operation targeting commercial properties east of Jenin was continuing.