Geneva: A spokesperson for the UN human rights office announced on Friday that the organisation had updated a list of firms doing business with Israeli settlements and had removed 15 firms that were no longer involved.

The long-awaited update comes amid escalating violence in the West Bank over the past 15 months, including deadly clashes during army raids in volatile cities like Jenin, a string of deadly attacks by Palestinian gunmen against Israeli settlers, and rampages by settler mobs in Palestinian villages.

Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the UN, stated at a press briefing that the scope of the UN list was constrained by financial constraints, and the rights office was only able to examine the initial list of 112 companies.

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Israel did not immediately respond with a statement. Benjamin Netanyahu, the country's prime minister, as well as Washington, which has long objected to the "disproportionate attention" paid to Israel by the Geneva-based council, rejected the previous draught.

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The UN Human Rights Council mandated the database in 2016, but it wasn't made public until 2020. According to civil society organisations, the database is a crucial tool for ensuring transparency regarding commercial activities in the West Bank and for encouraging businesses to reconsider their operations in the occupied territories.

When the database was first created, the majority of the companies listed were Israeli-based, but it also included foreign companies listed in countries like the United States, Britain, and France.

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General Mills, a manufacturer of packaged foods, was the only international company taken off the list. Booking.com, Expedia, and Airbnb were some of the businesses that were still operating.