A/HRC/31/42 claims and over 800,000 supporting documents had been collected in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. At the time of writing, 18,845 of the collected claims had been considered by the Board of the Register and deemed valid for inclusion in the Register. 7 C. Settler violence and lack of accountability 20. As reported by the Secretary-General, settler violence against Palestinians continued largely unchecked and without adequate protection or accountability on the part of the Israeli authorities (see A/70/351, para. 22). 21. According to data collected by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, during the period between 1 January and 2 November 2015, 207 incidents of settler violence against Palestinians and/or Palestinian property occurred in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem,8 compared with 278 incidents during the same period in 2014.9 However, between 29 September and 26 October 2015, the number of incidents of settler violence increased significantly, with 54 cases in about one month. 10 The increase in violence coincided with the heightened tensions between Palestinians and Israeli security forces and an increased number of attacks against Israelis throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in East Jerusalem, since mid-September 2015.11 22. In October 2015, the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories observed that continuing settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem was inextricably linked with a combination of restrictive planning policies for Palestinians, demolition orders on “illegal” Palestinian homes and structures built without permits and the oppressive and “coercive environment” fostered by settler violence. The Committee further noted that it was apparent from the testimonies it had received that the root cause of the escalating violence was the continuing policy of settlement expansion and the climate of impunity relating to the activities of the settlers (see A/70/406 and Corr.1, para. 11). 23. Lack of accountability for settler violence remains a major preoccupation. According to Yesh Din, most incidents of settler violence perpetrated against Palestinians and/or Palestinian property are poorly investigated and remain unpunished. During the period from 2005 to 2015, Yesh Din monitored 1,014 investigation files related to complaints about settler violence against Palestinians and their property in the West Bank. As of October 2015, an indictment had been issued in only 7.3 per cent of all cases concluded. The rest of the cases had been concluded without an indictment (91.6 per cent) 7 8 9 10 11 6 See www.unrod.org. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, protection of civilians weekly report for 27 October-2 November 2015, available from www.ochaopt.org/poc27october-2november-2015.aspx. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, protection of civilians weekly report for 28 October-3 November 2014, available from www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_protection_of_civilians_weekly_report_2014_11_07_english. pdf. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, protection of civilians weekly reports for 29 September–5 October 2015, 6 October–12 October 2015, 13 October–19 October 2015 and 20 October–26 October 2015. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, “Casualties in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel” (1-31 October 2015), available from https://www.ochaopt.org/documents/wb_casualties_october_2015.pdf.