Israeli demolition policy in Palestine saw an increase in recent months. (Photo: ActiveStills.org)
The statement called on “Israel, as the occupying power, to halt all confiscations and demolitions and to give unimpeded access to humanitarian organizations in the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem.”
Ten European countries have urged Israel to halt its policy of home demolitions and confiscation of Palestinian properties in the occupied West Bank, Anadolu news Agency reported.
Israeli occupation forces blow up the family house of slain Palestinian Mutaz Khawaja, in the town of Ni'lin, on Tuesday morning. pic.twitter.com/Hqpa5yUZnq
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) May 23, 2023
The call came in a joint statement issued on Friday by the consulates general of Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, the UK, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland and the Office of the European Union Representative to the West Bank and Gaza.
The statement called on “Israel, as the occupying power, to halt all confiscations and demolitions and to give unimpeded access to humanitarian organizations in the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem.”
It also urged Tel Aviv to “return or compensate for all humanitarian items funded by the consortium of donors,” in reference to Israel’s demolition of buildings funded by the European Union since 2015 estimated at 1,291,000 euros ($1,385,300).
The 10 countries “strongly condemned the recent demolition of the donor-funded school in Jubbet Adh Dhib” and expressed “their grave concern about the threatened demolition of another 57 schools in the West Bank.”
Israel widely uses the pretext of a lack of construction permits to demolish Palestinian homes, especially in Area C, which is under the Israeli army’s control.
2 Palestinians Killed, and 10 Houses and 1 Apartment Bombed in Israeli Airstrikes on Gaza Strip, Death Toll Rises to 33, including 4 Women and 6 Children
The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) continue their widescale aggression on the Gaza Strip, which began at dawn on Tuesday, 09 May 2023. After the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) issued a previous press release, IOF warplanes conducted more airstrikes on residential houses, agricultural lands, sites of the Palestinian armed groups, and others. As a result, 2 members of the Palestinian armed groups were killed, and other Palestinians were wounded. Thus, the death toll since the Israeli aggression started has risen to 33, including 15 civilians, amongst them 6 children and 4 women. According to the Ministry of Health (MOH), the number of injuries has risen to 147, including 48 children, 26 women and 10 elderlies. Also, 10 residential houses and a residential apartment were destroyed in Israeli airstrikes, bringing the number of targeted houses and apartments to 24, including 22 completely destroyed. Moreover, a hospital and a healthcare center sustained damage due to nearby airstrikes.
This comes at a time the humanitarian crisis and disruption of public life exacerbate, as schools have been closed and fishing at Gaza Sear has been suspended for the fourth consecutive day, leaving 3500 fishermen without a source of income. Also, due to closure of crossings, movement of Gaza imports and exports has stopped, including the entry of fuel needed for the operation of Gaza Power Plant that is about to run out, forcing the Plant’s administration to turn off one of the three turbines to prolong its working hours and implying that the plant will totally shut down within 72 hours.
The following are the most significant developments:
12 May 2023
At 14:15: IOF warplanes bombed and completely destroyed Sameer Taha’s 2-storey house of 3 apartments in Jablia.
Around the same time, IOF warplanes launched 2 missiles at Ahmed al-Hashash’s asbestos house in northern Rafah. As a result, al-Hashash’s house was completely destroyed in addition to 3 other asbestos houses while a person was injured.
At 15:55: IOF warplanes bombed and completely destroyed Kamal Abu Tair’s 3-storey house of 5 apartments in ‘Abasan al-Kabira, east of Khan Yunis.
At 16:20: Eyad al-‘Abed al-Hasani (51), a commander of Al-Quds Brigades, and his Deputy, Mohammed Waleed ‘Abed al-‘Aal (33) were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a residential apartment on the 5th floor of a building in al-Nasser neighborhood in western Gaza City. As a result, the apartment was destroyed and 5 Palestinians, including 2 children, were injured. IOF announced that IOF and Shin Bet (Shabak) killed in a joint targeted operation Eyad al-Hasani, head of the Palestinian Islamic ‘s (PIJ) operations unit at, along with another operative.
Around the same time, IOF warplanes launched 2 missiles at Hussain Ma’rouf’s 3-storey house of 4 apartments in Beit Lahia, destroying it completely.
At 20:30: IOF warplanes bombed and completely destroyed a 5-storey house belonging to Mohammad Yassin in Al-Zaytoun neighborhood.
At 20:35: IOF warplanes launched two missiles at a house belonging to Yehya Abo ‘Obeid behind the southern side of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah. As a result, the house was completely destroyed while the Hospital sustained partial damage as well as the Ministry of Health (MOH)’s Ambulance and Emergency building, that is 100 meters away from it. Also, 10 Palestinians, including 2 children and 4 women, were injured; among them three were injured inside the hospital, including an ill child.
Moreover, as a result of recurrent airstrikes on nearby lands, MOH’s Muscat Primary HealthCare Center sustained partial damage. The Center is comprised of 2 floors and a basement on an area of 1500 sqm and houses other departments including South Central Ambulance Department serving the Rafah and Khan Yunis areas and is located in Gizan Al-Najjar area. MOH has also announced the evacuation of the ambulance station and referring all its services to Nasser Medical Complex, following the damage inflicted to the Center and breakdown of the communications network.
13 May 2022:
At 01:30: IOF warplanes bombed a 3-storey house belonging to Salim Hasan Abu Al-‘Ata in eastern Shuja’iyya neighborhood, east of Gaza, extensively destroying two floors, and injuring one person.
At 03:00: IOF warplanes bombed and completely destroyed a 5-storey house belonging to Hazem Muhanna on Yarmouk Street, north of Gaza City.
At 10:05: IOF warplanes launched 2 missiles at a 3-storey house belonging to Faraj Banat housing 3 apartments near Beit Lahiya roundabout. As a result, 2 women were injured, and the house was completely destroyed.
At 11:45: IOF warplanes launched two missiles at a 3-storey house belonging to Al-Za’anin family and housing 6 apartments in Beit Hanoun. As a result, the house was completely destroyed.
PCHR strongly condemns the ongoing Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip and warns of any further losses of civilian life and damage to civilian property, urging the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to take serious action into the situation of Palestine.
PCHR reiterates its call upon the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfil their obligations as per Common Article 1 of the Convention, “undertake to respect and to ensure respect for the present Convention in all circumstances,” and their obligations under Article 146 of the same Conventions, i.e., to hold accountable persons accused of committing grave breaches of the Convention.
The Gaza Strip has been under attack for the fifth consecutive day in the context of a military operation launched by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on 9 May 2023. Innocent civilians have been killed and wounded, and civilian objects, including civilian houses and apartments, have been targeted and destroyed by Israeli airstrikes.
According to the documentation by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), as of the time writing this paper, more than 31 Palestinian have been killed, including 15 civilians, amongst them 6 children and 4 women, and more than 100 Palestinians have been wounded. In addition, 30 civilian buildings have been completely destroyed and over 100 have been partially destroyed. The Israeli occupation authorities have also decided to collectively punish 2 million Palestinians in the Strip by closing the two main crossings in the Strip Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing and Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing further deteriorating the humanitarian conditions in the Strip.
PCHR monitors with great concern the silence of the International Criminal Court Prosecutor over the crimes committed by the IOF against the Palestinian people in the context of its illegal occupation in Palestine. Thus far, the ICC prosecutor has not issued any public statement regarding Palestine since assuming office.
PCHR calls on the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Mr. Karim Khan to issue a public statement condemning Israel’s crimes in an effort to contribute to the seizing of the ongoing aggression, during which apparent war crimes and crimes against humanity continue to be committed, and obligating Israel to respect international human rights and humanitarian law, including the principles of distinction, proportionality, and military necessity.
While PCHR is aware of Mr. Karim Khan’s stance of opposing public statements in the context of Palestine, as he publicly stated in a meeting during the Assembly of State parties with non-governmental organizations in December 2022, PCHR calls on Mr. Karim Khan to reverse this policy, and prioritize the situation in Palestine due to the scale and enormity of the crimes that have been and still being committed, and issue a public statement immediately.
While preventative public statements might not necessarily achieve the wanted goal, they have proved to have worked before and can deter Israeli practices that may contribute to the ongoing crimes against humanity and war crimes. For example, when former ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda issued a preventative statement regarding the planned forced eviction of the Bedouin community of Khan Al-Ahmar in the West Bank, the then-Israeli Foreign Minister confirmed that Israel did not evict Khan al-Ahmar out of concerns of an ICC investigation. This unequivocally shows that such preventive statements can provide sufficient deterrence.
The lack of accountability, including the non-issuance of preventive statements for the repeated crimes against the Palestinian people, means the granting of immunity to those who practice war crimes and encourages the commission of further crimes and violations against the Palestinian people. More civilians are expected to be killed and wounded and more civilian objects are expected to be targeted by the IOF if the Israeli military operation in the Strip continues.
This is not the first time that Israel committed apparent war crimes and crimes against humanity in the context of its military operations against the Strip. Previous operations including, Operation Cast Lead (2008-200), Operation Protective Edge (2014), and Operation Guardian of the Walls (2021), prove clearly that there is a systematic pattern by the IOF in targeting civilians and civilian objects. As the Prosecutor is clearly aware of the crimes that could have been committed in the context of this military operation due the evidence of previous operations, he should have issued a preventative statement warning of the commission of violations which may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity when the Israeli authorities announced the start of this operation.
In addition, PCHR calls on the ICC Prosecutor to expedite his investigation into the situation in Palestine. More than two years have passed since the former ICC Prosecutor Ms. Fatou Bensouda, opened an investigation in Palestine and eight years since the opening of a preliminary examination. Mr. Karim Khan is yet to take any action with regards to the investigation in Palestine other than his announcement that he intends to visit Palestine during 2023. As victims’ representatives, PCHR is yet to receive any communication from the Office of the Prosecutor concerning the investigation in Palestine since Mr. Karim Khan assumed office. The delay in taking practical steps is questionable given that the Palestine is amongst the most well-legally documented conflicts in the world.
At the same time, PCHR has been monitoring Mr. Karim Khan’s conduct in other situations, especially Ukraine. In less than a year, Mr. Karim Khan opened an investigation and issued arrest warrants for Russian perpetrators suspected of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine. He has also been very active in his media activity conducting numerous media interviews and issuing public statements on the Court’s website and twitter with regards to the situation in Ukraine.
PCHR believes that this is extremely important not only for the ICC but for the whole international criminal justice system. At the same time, it is also crucial that the same level of attention, activity, and resources is applied to other situations including, Palestine, to avoid perceptions of selectivity and politicization. Victims should not be competing for justice and double standards should not have a place in justice.
Israeli occupation forces during a raid in the West Bank (photo from December 2022).
Early Wednesday morning, Israeli occupation forces initiated a widespread campaign of arrests in various areas throughout the occupied West Bank. The campaign, which included confrontations, clashes, and arrests, targeted multiple towns and neighborhoods.
In the town of Jaba, south of Jenin, the occupation forces arrested brothers, Karam and Hakim Al-Hodhod, after storming their family home. In the same area, they also arrested Ahmed Abu Aziz and his father, Muhammad Abu Aziz. Clashes between resistance fighters and the occupation forces occurred during the raid
Further arrests were made in occupied Al-Quds, where Adam Ghaith, Saleh al-Hadra, Aysar Abu Sbeitan from Al-Tur, and Ayham al-Salaymeh from Ras al-Amud were arrested after having their homes raided and ransacked.
In Ramallah, young men clashed with the occupation forces in the Jalazoun refugee camp
Local Palestinian protesters shower Israeli occupation soldiers with stones during an Israeli raid into Al-Jalazon refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, last night. pic.twitter.com/44LzBXeRYL
In Nablus, the occupation forces arrested Khalil Abu Ghadeeb and Bahaa Al-Tayyan from their homes while resistance fighters fired on the occupation forces during their withdrawal from the Al-Maajin neighborhood.
Palestinian sources reported that warning sirens sounded in Nour Shams camp in Tulkarem, indicating an impending occupation force raid.
Additionally, occupation forces stormed Za’tara, where they tampered with the contents of homes belonging to citizens, Raafat Nayef Al-Wahsh, Youssef Al-Bo, and Fadi Battah, before withdrawing without making any arrests.
Palestinian resistance pledges to continue with response
The Palestinian resistance movement in the Gaza Strip confirmed that the resistance will continue until the expulsion of the occupation and the liberation of Palestine and its return to its Arab and Islamic embrace.
The movement also stressed, in a statement, the need for the unity of our people on the program of resistance and adherence to rights and constants. The unity of our people on the choice of resistance is a prerequisite for achieving victory.
IOF Demolish Land in occupied Jerusalem
Palestinian-owned land was leveled and a wall was demolished in the town of Sur Baher, belonging to the Amira family, by the Israeli Occupation Forces. They also detained four young men from the same area of occupied Jerusalem.
Israeli occupation forces carry out bulldozing works in a Palestinian-owned land in the occupied Jerusalem neighborhood of Sur Baher, today. pic.twitter.com/byubENFvrw
The contents of a commercial shop in the al-Jalazone refugee camp in Ramallah were damaged by the Israeli Occupation Forces, and money was stolen.
Media coverage: The vandalism left behind Israeli occupation forces last night after savagely storming a vegetable shop in Al-Jalazon refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. pic.twitter.com/aXNZJR0s3x
Nakahle: Martyred Commanders Immediately Replaced Earlier on Tuesday, the Secretary-General of Islamic Jihad, Ziad Nakhale, confirmed the group’s readiness to confront Israeli attacks. He revealed that the group’s commanders who were martyred during the Israeli aggression on Gaza earlier this month have already been replaced.
Nakhale maintained that the group holds rockets that can reach any area of occupied Palestine and that rockets fired at occupied territories during “Operation Revenge of the Free” were homemade and manufactured by the group’s military wing, Al-Quds Brigades. Six Al-Quds Brigades commanders were assassinated during the Israeli aggression on Gaza.
The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) continue their widescale aggression on the Gaza Strip for the second consecutive day as it began at dawn on Tuesday, 09 May 2023, when 3 commanders of Al-Quds Brigades (AQB), the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), were assassinated by bombing their houses over their families and neighbors’ heads. During the aggression, which continues up to the preparation of this report, IOF conducted extensive airstrikes and artillery shelling against residential houses, agricultural lands, sites of Palestinian armed groups, and others. As a result, so far 25 Palestinians, including 13 civilians, 6 children and 4 women, have been killed, and 63 others, including 15 children and 15 women, have been wounded. These attacks on civilian areas reflect Israel’s blatant disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians and non-observation of the principle of distinction and proportionality binding on IOF under international law. The bombing has also caused complete and partial destruction to dozens of housing units, rendering dozens of families homeless, as PCHR’s fieldworkers are still documenting the destruction. Meanwhile, PCHR is still investigating certain incidents that inflicted losses among civilians and property. PCHR’s preliminary investigations indicate casualties fell after homemade rockets had fallen in three incidents, during which 3 civilians, including 2 children, were killed and 26 others were wounded, including 7 children and 5 women.
The following are the most significant developments:
On 09 May 2023, IOF launched an aggression on the Gaza Strip, conducted extensive air raids and bombed a vehicle and 4 apartments on the heads of their residents. As a result, 15 Palestinians, including 4 children and 4 women, were killed, and 20 others, including 4 children and 4 women, were wounded. IOF warplanes fired 2 missiles at 2 floors of a 6-storey residential building in al-Rimal neighborhood in central Gaza City, resulting in the killing of 6 Palestinians, including a woman and 2 children, and injury of 6 others, including 2 women. Those killed were identified as Jamal Saber Mohammed Khaswan (52), a dentist and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Al-Wafaa Charity Association; his wife, Mervat Saleh Mohammed Khaswan (44); and their son Yousef (19), a student at the Faculty of Dentistry. All of them were civilians and lived on the 6th floor. And those killed on the 5th floor were identified as Tareq Ibrahim Mohammed ‘Izz al-Deen (51), a commander at al-Quds Brigades; and his two children ‘Ali (9) and Mayar (7).
Around the same time, Israeli warplanes fired 2 missiles at family house in eastern Gaza City. As a result, five, including 2 women and 2 girls, were killed, and 6 others, including 3 children and 2 women, were injured. Those killed were identified as Khalil Khaled al-Behtaini (44), a commander at al-Quds Brigades; his wife Laila Majdi Mostafa al-Behtaini (42); his 4-year-old daughter Hajar; a 19-yeat-old girl namely Dania ‘Alaa ‘Ataa ‘Adas and her sister Eman (17), who succumbed to her injuries at around 10:00, noting that Dania and Eman lived adjacent to the targeted building.
Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes targeted at a 1-storey house in Al-Jeneina neighborhood in Rafah. As a result, Jihad Shaker Diab ‘AbdulHafez/Al-Ghanam, Secretary of al-Quds Brigades’ Military Council who was an amputee, and his wife Wafaa Nimr Tawfiq Al-Ghanam (62) were killed, and 6 others sustained various wounds, including a child and the targeted commander’s son. More details are available in PCHR’s press release.
In the same evening, Wael Muhammad Sabri al-Agha (34), and Saed Jawad ‘Abd Farwana (28), members of the Palestinian armed groups, were killed, and two other Palestinians were injured in an Israeli airstrike on a civilian car in al-Qarara, northeast of Khan Yunis.
On 10 May 2023, the bombing continued against agricultural lands, sites of Palestinian armed groups, and houses. As a result, 7 Palestinians were killed, including 3 civilians: 2 were children. PCHR is still investigating the nature of the missile that killed them and injured 36 others, including 8 women and 10 children.
Muhammad Yousef Abu Ta’ima (23) and ‘Alaa Maher Abu Ta’ima (28), who were members of the Palestinian armed groups, were killed in an airstrike that targeted them in an agricultural field in ‘Abasan al-Kabira, east of Khan Yunis.
Meanwhile, Ayman Karam Saidam (26) and ‘Alam Al-Dein Sameer ‘Abdul-‘Aziz (23), who were members of the Palestinian armed groups, were killed, and 2 others were wounded as a result of an Israeli airstrike on an agricultural land in Al-Shokah village, east of Rafah. In addition, 8 Palestinians, including 3 children and 3 women, were wounded in an airstrike on an agricultural land near residential houses in Al-Salam neighborhood, south of Rafah.
Also, Ahmed Mohammed al-Shebaki (50) was killed and his wife Yusra Othman al-Shebaki (50) was seriously injured after a missile fell on their house in Qleibo area in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip. PCHR is still investigating the incident, as initial information raises suspicion that it might be a homemade rocket.
Moreover, Yazan Jawdat ‘Eliyan (16) and Layan Belal Mohammed Modawikh (8) were killed and 12 others, including 2 children and 2 women, were injured after a missile fell on a 5-storey house on al-Sahaba Street in Gaza City. PCHR is still investigating the incident, as initial information raises suspicion that it might be a homemade rocket.
In addition, 13 Palestinians were injured, including 2 women and 5 children; one seriously injured, after a missile fell on a house in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip. PCHR is still investigating the incident, as initial information raises suspicion that it might be a homemade rocket.
Meanwhile, IOF warplanes launched at least 2 missiles at a 3-storey house in al-Qarara area, northeast of Khan Yunis. As a result, the house was destroyed and 4 families of 20, including children and women, were displaced. It should be noted that one of the area residents received a call to evacuate the nearby houses.
Moreover, IOF warplanes launched 2 missiles at a 3-storey house of 3 residential apartments in Beit Lahia, completely destroying it and rendering 4 families of 16, including 4 women and 8 children, homeless. It is worth noting that the house’s owner received a call from IOF only 40 minutes before targeting the house telling him to evacuate.
On 11 May 2023, 3 Palestinians, including 2 brothers; one of them a commander of Al-Quds Brigades, were killed and 7 other civilians, including a girl and 3 women; one was pregnant, were injured after IOF warplanes fired 3 missiles at a residential apartment on the 5th floor of a building in Hamad Residential Compound, west of Khan Yunis. Those killed were identified as: ‘Ali Hasan Ghali (50), member of al-Quds Brigades’ Military Council and head of the rocket launching unit; his brother Mahmoud (23); and their relative Mahmoud Waleed Mohammed ‘Abdul Jawaad (26). All of them were in the targeted apartment, while the other injuries were reported in nearby apartments. IOF announced that IOF and Shin Bet (Shabak) killed in a joint targeted operation the commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s rocket launching force in the Gaza Strip.
In the West Bank, 8 Palestinians, including a woman, was killed, and 35 others, including 6 children, were injured, while dozens of others suffocated and sustained bruises in IOF’s attacks in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Details are as follows:
On 04 May 2023, IOF killed 3 members of Palestinian armed groups and wounded 3 civilians in an extrajudicial execution crime committed by IOF during their incursion into Nablus’s Old City. (Details available in PCHR’s press release).
On the same day, Eman Ziyad ‘Odah (26) was shot dead by IOF stationed in central Huwara village, southeast of Nablus, claiming that she stabbed an Israeli soldier, as IOF declared.
On 06 May 2023, two members of Palestinian armed groups namely Hamza Jamil Kharyoush (23) and Samer Salah Shaf’y (20) were killed and another Palestinian was injured while 2 others were arrested after one of them was injured during IOF’s incursion into Tulkarm refugee camp, where they cordoned off a house and clashed with Palestinian armed group members who were fortified inside the house.
On 10 May 2023, IOF killed 2 members of Palestinian armed groups namely Ahmed Jamal ‘Assaf (19), from Qabatiya village, and Rani Waleed Qatanat (24), from Jenin refugee camp, and wounded 2 other Palestinians; one seriously injured, during armed clashes that accompanied IOF’s incursion into Qabatiya village in Jenin. Before withdrawing, IOF arrested a Palestinian and confiscated a vehicle as the two Palestinians mentioned above were killed near it.
Meanwhile, those injured were victims of excessive use of force that accompanied IOF’s incursion into the Palestinian cities and villages, or IOF’s suppression of peaceful protests organized by Palestinian civilians. Twenty Palestinians, including 5 children, were injured in stone-throwing clashes with IOF during the latter’s incursion into several villages in Ramallah, Hebron and Bethlehem. Also, 12 Palestinians, including a child, were injured in Kafr Qaddum weakly peaceful protest, east of Qalqilya. Additionally, 2 Palestinians were injured near the annexation wall in Qalqilya when they were on they way to work in Israel.
So far in 2023, IOF attacks and aggression have killed 136 Palestinians, including 69 civilians; 24 of them were children, and 6 women, and the rest were members of the Palestinian armed groups, including 2 children, 7 killed by settlers, and two died in Israeli prisons. Meanwhile, 274 Palestinians, including 85 children, 21 women and 12 journalists, were injured.
Land razing, demolitions, and notices
IOF demolished 6 houses and 6 facilities, including a school that was demolished twice, while Israeli settlers built a settlement road on Palestinian lands in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Details are as follows:
On 04 May 2023, IOF demolished a 70-sqm restaurant, which is a building built of steel, aluminum and wood in Al-Walaja village, northwest of Bethlehem, under the pretext of unlicensed construction.
On 07 May 2023, IOF demolished al-Tahadi Primary School (5) in Jeb al-Deeb village, east of Bethlehem, under the pretext of unlicensed construction in Area C. Dozens of villagers tried to confront the demolition, but IOF attacked them and heavily fired live and rubber-coated bullets and teargas canisters at them, wounding 5 of them. The villagers later re-built the school, but IOF- re-demolished it for the 2nd time on 10 May 2023. It is worth noting that the 170-sqm school serving 60 students is funded by the European Union (EU), and it included 5 classrooms, a tent, a number of bathrooms, a playground, and a container used as a kitchen.
On the same day, IOF forced a Palestinian to self-demolish his 82-sqm house in Jabel Mukaber village in occupied East Jerusalem, pursuant to an Israeli municipal decision issued under the pretext of unlicensed construction.
Also, IOF demolished two 140-sqm houses in Al-Auja village in Jericho and razed a 150-sqm cement slab in al-Jiftlik village, north of Jericho.
On 08 May 2023, IOF notified to cease construction works in a concrete slab and 2 houses in Ma’een village in Hebron, under the pretext of unlicensed construction in Area C.
On 09 May 2023, IOF forced a Palestinian to self-demolish his under-construction house of 50 sqms in Ras al-‘Amoud neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, pursuant to an Israeli Municipal’s decision issued under the pretext of unlicensed construction.
On the same day, Israeli settlers, from “Havat Yair” settlement that is established on Deir Istiya village’s lands in western Salfit, built a new 700-meter-long settlement road leading to “Al-Majur” and “Nuwaitif” water springs on Palestinians’ lands in Qarawat Bani Hassan village.
On 10 May 2023, IOF demolished an animal barrack in Jabel Mukaber village and two 100-sqm shops in Wadi Qaddoum neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, under the pretext of unlicensed construction.
On the same day, IOF demolished a room built of bricks and used as a commercial facility and a 120-meter-long wall in eastern Yatta in Hebron.
Also, IOF demolished a floor housing two 230-sqm apartments belonging to 2 brothers in Jabel Mukaber village in occupied East Jerusalem, rendering 9 persons, including 2 women and 5 children, homeless.
Since the beginning of 2023, IOF have made 69 families homeless, a total of 439 persons, including 86 women and 192 children. This was the outcome of IOF demolition of 76 houses; 18 were forcibly self-demolished by their owners and 8 were demolished on grounds of collective punishment. IOF also demolished 70 other civilian objects, razed other property, and delivered dozens of notices of demolition and cease-construction in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Settler-attacks and retaliatory acts:
Three Palestinians were injured; 2 of them with live bullets, in settlers’ attacks in the West Bank. Details are as follows:
On 05 May 2023, Israeli settlers broke into Maghayir al-‘Abeed area in eastern Yatta in Hebron, where they made their sheep step on the agricultural crops. Later, an Israeli force arrived and detained a Palestinian whom the settlers were attempting to assault, while the settlers later left the area.
On 10 May 2023, 3 Palestinians were injured; 2 of them sustained live bullet injuries and the third sustained bruises in an attack carried out by at least 30 settlers on Deir Dibwan village, east of Ramallah.
Since the beginning of the year, settlers have conducted at least 193 attacks against Palestinian civilians and their property. As a result, 7 Palestinians were killed, and dozens of others were injured; most of them after being beaten and thrown with stones. Also, dozens of houses, vehicles and civilian facilities were set ablaze.
IOF incursions and arrests:
IOF carried out 204 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Those incursions included raids and searches of civilian houses and facilities and establishment of checkpoints. During those incursions, at least 108 Palestinians were arrested, including 13 children and a writer. In the Gaza Strip, on 08 May 2023, IOF conducted a limited incursion into eastern al-Maghazi refugee camp.
So far in 2023, IOF have conducted 3,703 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, during which 2215 Palestinians were arrested, including 25 women and 265 children. Also, IOF arrested 34 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip; 12 were fishermen and 19 were trying to infiltrate into Israel, and 3 travelers at Erez Crossing. IOF also conducted 12 incursions.
Israeli closure and restrictions on freedom of movement and collective punishment policy:
Israeli occupation maintains its illegal and inhuman 16-year closure on the Gaza Strip. Details available in PCHR’s monthly-update in the Gaza crossings.
At dawn on 09 May 2023, IOF closed Gaza crossings coinciding with its military offensive against various targets, including civilian objects. The closure of crossings threatens hundreds of patients’ lives and impairs the already frail health system due to the Israeli-imposed closure on Gaza Strip for 16 years. (Details available at PCHR’s press release).
In the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, IOF continues to impose restrictions on the freedom of movement. On top of its110 permanent checkpoints, IOF established 121 temporary military checkpoints in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, where they arrested 7 Palestinians.
This week, IOF closed the military checkpoints several times in occupied East Jerusalem and Bethlehem and blocked traffic.
So far in 2023,IOF have established 2204 temporary military checkpoints and arrested 116 Palestinians at those checkpoints.
4 Palestinians were killed, three of them in the West Bank, including 2 children, and the fourth was succumbed to injury in the Gaza Strip by an Israeli airstrike. Meanwhile, a Palestinian detainee who had been on a hunger strike in Israeli prisons died. In addition to 23 others, including 5 children, 3 women and a photojournalist were injured, and dozens of others suffocated in IOF attacks in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Details are as follows:
On 27 April 2023, Ahmad Ya’qoub Taha (39) was shot dead by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) after he got out of his vehicle nearby the Haris village roundabout in Salfit. An eyewitness told PCHR’s fieldworker that the vehicle crashed a concrete protection nearby the intersection where there is an Israeli military checkpoint. As a result, a group of Israeli soldiers approached him and asked him to get out of his vehicle and raise his hands. Suddenly, they opened fire at him, wounding him with several bullets which led to his death. This crime falls under an unjustified field execution as IOF claimed he was carrying a knife, but that is unconfirmed.
On 28 April 2023, Mustafa ‘Amer Sabbah (16) was shot with a live bullet in the chest during clashes with IOF in Tuqu’ town in Bethlehem. According to video footages and eyewitnesses, IOF fired at the child from a distance of 200 meters and as soon as he fell to the ground, IOF soldiers approached and examined his injury, then left him and moved hundreds of meters away from him, then the protestors managed to carry him and transfer him to a healthcare center in the town, where he was immediately pronounced dead.
On 01 May 2023, Mohammad Sa’eed Kamal (17) was killed, and 3 others, including a woman, were injured with live bullets and shrapnel by IOF, after the latter’s incursion into ‘Aqaba Jaber camp in Jericho. According to PCHR’s investigations, Kamal was shot with a live bullet in the head after he approached 50 meters closer to a residential building where IOF raided by IOF and the Israeli snipers stationed. Meanwhile, clashes and stone-throwing protests erupted in the Area. 3 young men tried to reach the Child and help him, but IOF soldiers fired at them, injuring two. Kamal fell on the ground and left to bleed for 10 minutes until he was taken to Ariha Governmental Hospital by an ambulance, where he was pronounced dead. As for the woman, she was wounded by shrapnel in the foot when IOF blew up the door of her house before raiding it and turning it into a sniper barracks.
On 02 May 2023, the death of the detainee Khader ‘Adnan, who has been in an 87-day- hunger strike in protest against his administrative detention by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF), was announced. At dawn, ‘Adnan was found unconscious in his cell before his death was later declared after transferring him to the hospital. (Details available at PCHR’s press release).
On 02 May 2023, Hashel Mubarak Mubarak (58), was killed by a large stone in his chest due to flying rubble, after IOF warplanes bombed a site belonging to the Palestinian armed groups, southwest of Jablia, in the northern Gaza Strip. Mubarak was hit inside his tin-roofed house, 100 meters away from the targeted site. The bombing caused partial damage to a number of houses and a school in the area.
In addition, 5 civilians, including 3 children and 2 women, were wounded by shrapnel from a missile that fell on Al-Masryeen Street in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip.
At evening of the same day, and at dawn of the following day, IOF warplanes launched several missiles, most of which targeted Palestinian armed groups’ sites and agricultural lands, in different areas of the Gaza Strip, but no injuries were reported, after the Palestinian factions fired missiles towards Israeli gatherings, for the death of the detainee Khader ‘Adnan.
Meanwhile, those injured were victims of excessive use of force that accompanied IOF incursions into cities and villages and suppression of peaceful protests organized by Palestinian civilians, and they were as follows:
On 28 April 2023, 3 Palestinians, including a child, were injured during clashes with IOF after raiding Jenin refugee camp. Before withdrawal, IOF arrested a Palestinian after breaking into his house, destroyed the contents of his brother’s café and billiards, as well as an ambulance was damaged during the clashes.
On the same day, 5 Palestinians, including a photojournalist, were injured with metal bullets during IOF’s suppression of Kafr Qaddoum weekly protest in northern Qalqilya
On 30 April 2023, a Palestinian child was injured in the right foot during clashes with IOF at the entrance to Al- ‘Arroub camp in Hebron, where IOF established a military observation point.
On 01 May 2023, a Palestinian was injured with two live bullets in the hand and back, and his condition was critical, during clashes with IOF after they stormed the town of Beit Jala, in Bethlehem. IOF raided the yard of Beit Jala Governmental Hospital, firing live bullets and tear gas canisters inside, claiming they were pursuing protestors, which led to the suffocation of a number of patients and their companions. Before their withdrawal, IOF arrested an elder.
On02 May 2023, a Palestinian was injured with a live bullet in his right knee during clashes with IOF at the entrance to Al- ‘Arroub camp in Hebron.
On 03 May 2023, a Palestinian was seriously injured after being hit with 6 live bullets in the pelvis and the lower part of his body, by IOF while he was passing through a temporary military checkpoint set up at ‘Aqbat Hasna intersection, leading to the western countryside of Bethlehem, under the pretext of attempting to attack a soldier. The injured was transferred to the Arab Society Hospital in Beit Jala, for treatment.
In the Gaza Strip, on 01 May 2023, 2 Palestinians were injured with metal bullet, as a result of IOF firing bullets at several boats off the northern Gaza Strip. IOF fired at least 8 bullets at agricultural lands, and 7 bullets at fishermen’s boats in eastern and western Gaza Strip.
So far in 2023, IOF attacks killed 103 Palestinians, including 55 civilians; 18 of them were children, a woman, and the rest were members of the Palestinian armed groups, including 2 children, 7 killed by settlers, and two died in Israeli prisons. Meanwhile, 479 Palestinians, including 65 children, 6 women and 12 journalists, were injured.
Land razing, demolitions, and notices
IOF demolished a 6-storey residential building of 16 apartments, closed a carpentry shop, and confiscated a caravan a water tank in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Details are as follows:
On 27 April 2023, IOF raided a carpentry workshop in the Old City of Hebron, and verbally notified its owner of its closure. Noting that the carpentry is located on the 2nd floor of an old building in the Old City Square, overlooking the closed area of Al-Shuhada Street and the outpost of Beit Hadassah.
On 28 April 2023, IOF confiscated a water tank in the village of Humsa al-Fawqa, in the northern Jordan Valley, east of Tubas.
On 30 April 2023, IOF confiscated a 60-sqm caravan in Qasr Hisham, in Jericho.
On 03 May 2023, IOF demolished a residential building of 6 floors containing 16 apartments, including 2 inhabited apartments, in Dahiyat al-Salam area in ‘Anata town, in East Jerusalem, under the pretext of unlicensed construction, displacing 11 citizens, including 4 children. IOF also beat a number of residents during the demolition process.
Since the beginning of 2023, IOF made 67 families homeless, a total of 430 persons, including 48 women and 187 children. This was the outcome of IOF demolition of 70 houses; 16 were forcibly self-demolished by their owners and 8 were demolished on grounds of collective punishment. IOF also demolished 64 other civilian objects, razed other property, and delivered dozens of notices of demolition, cease-construction, and evacuation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Demolitions on grounds of collective punishment
On 03 May 2023, IOF demolished 2 houses in the village of Haris, north of Salfit, and the village of Hajjah, east of Qalqilya, as part of collective punishment policy adopted by IOF against Palestinian families, accusing them of carrying out acts of resistance against them, or against the settlers.
In the village of Haris, IOF destroyed a house for the family of a Palestinian who was killed on 15 November 2022, after carrying out a stabbing and run-over attack that killed 3 settlers. The demolition was carried out by detonating the 100-sqm 3-storey house, after its residents, a family of 8, were evacuated, causing damage to a number of nearby houses.
In the village of Hajjah, IOF demolished the detainee’s house who was accused of carrying out a stabbing attack against a settler on 15 October 2022. The demolition was carried out with bulldozers and led to the complete destruction of the 250-sqm 2-storey house and an annex, displacing a family of 5.
Settler-attacks
Settlers carried out 10 attacks on Palestinians and their property in the West Bank, injuring many Palestinians and uprooting hundreds of trees in the West Bank. Details are as follows:
On 27 April 2023, settlers uprooted dozens of olive and grape seedlings, destroyed agricultural crops, and an irrigation network in the citizens’ agricultural lands in the village of Husan in Bethlehem.
On the same day, settlers attacked agricultural land in east of Qaryut town in Nablus, and cut down 42 olive trees.
On 28 April 2023, settlers severely beat 3 Palestinians, brothers, in the village of Deir Jarir, east of Ramallah, and threw stones at the ambulance that arrived to help them, smashing its windows.
On 29 April 2023, settlers, living in the settlement outpost established on the village of Al-Zuwaidin, south of Hebron, entered their livestock into the citizens’ lands, which were planted with winter grains. When the citizens arrived in the area in order to force the settlers to remove their livestock, large forces of the Israeli army arrived and confronted the citizens and arrested 4 of them.
On 30 April 2023, settlers attacked the Palestinians’ lands in the west of the town of Deir Sharaf in Nablus, and broke 261 olive, almond, fig, carob, pine and Kenya trees, and destroyed the 125-meter-long and 1.5-meter-high fence around the 47 dunums of land.
On the same day, two Palestinians were injured as a result of being beaten with sticks by a group of settlers in Burqa village in Nablus. In the evening, settlers attacked citizens’ lands east of the town of ‘Aqraba in Nablus, assaulted a farmer, and stole 14 sheep before running away towards the nearby “Jetit” settlement.
On 30 April 2023, settlers raided an agricultural land, east of the village of Deir Jarir, east of Ramallah, opened fire at the citizens, beat two citizens, bruised them, and seized their vehicle while they were working on the land.
On 01 May 2023, settlers attacked citizens’ lands in east of the town of Qaryut in Nablus, and cut down 12 olive trees.
On the same day, a Palestinian was wounded with a live bullet in the left shoulder by settlers’ fire after they assaulted him while he was guarding a building in Jabal Qbeibat, south of Jenin.
On 03 May 2023, settlers uprooted 820 apricot and jarnak trees, destroyed the water network, and demolished a tent on agricultural lands in the village of Burqa and the town of Sebastia in Nablus.
Since the beginning of the year, settlers have conducted at least 190 attacks against Palestinian civilians and their property. As a result, 7 Palestinians were killed and dozens of others were injured; most of them after being beaten and thrown with stones. Also, dozens of houses, vehicles and civilian facilities were set ablaze.
IOF incursions and arrests of Palestinian civilians:
IOF carried out 207 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Those incursions included raids and searches of civilian houses and facilities and establishment of checkpoints. During those incursions, 96 Palestinians were arrested, including 10 children. In the Gaza Strip, IOF arrested 7 Palestinians; 5 tried to infiltrate through the fence, including 4 in east of Khan Yunis on 01-02 May 2023, and the fifth in east of Beit Hanoun on 27 April 2023, and 2 fishermen off the northern Strip. IOF also carried out a limited incursion into east of Khan Yunis on 01 May 2023.
So far in 2023, IOF conducted 3499 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, during which 2107 Palestinians were arrested, including 25 women and 252 children. Also, IOF arrested 34 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip; 12 were fishermen and 19 were trying to infiltrate into Israel, and 3 travelers at Erez Crossing. IOF also conducted 11 incursions.
Israeli closure and restrictions on freedom of movement:
Israeli occupation maintains its illegal and inhuman 16-year closure on the Gaza Strip. Details available in PCHR’s monthly-update in the Gaza crossings.
In the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, IOF continue to impose restrictions on the freedom of movement. On top of its 110 permanent checkpoints, IOF established 125 temporary military checkpoints in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, and arrested 21 Palestinians at those checkpoints.
Since 22 April 2023, IOF have continued to impose a comprehensive siege on the city of Jericho, by closing its northern and southern entrances and the main entrance leading to it and its camps. IOF set up several military checkpoints and roadblocks, cement blocks and mounds on the roads, where soldiers are stationed, and they conduct continuous inspections. On 01 May 2023, IOF installed 3 military iron gates at the main entrances to the city; north, south and east. Until now, IOF continue to establish temporary military checkpoints at the main entrances and exits of the City. As the latter also closed the main and secondary roads towards the central Jordan Valley, and set up gates and cement blocks at all the Jordan Valley intersections.
During the week, IOF closed the checkpoints in East Jerusalem and Bethlehem for several times, causing traffic obstruction.
So far in 2023, IOF established 2083 temporary military checkpoints and arrested 109 Palestinians at those checkpoints.
[1] This report covers 2 weeks due to ‘Eid al-Fitr holiday.
Violation of right to life and bodily integrity:
Two Palestinians were killed, and 23 others were injured, including 4 children, a woman and a paramedic, while dozens of others suffocated and sustained bruises in Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) attacks in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. In the Gaza Strip, several houses and facilities sustained material damage due to Israeli airstrikes. Details are as follows:
On 24 April 2023, Suliman ‘Ayish ‘Owaid (22) succumbed to his wounds only hours after being arrested. ‘Owaid and 3 other Palestinians were wounded by an Israeli Special Force when the latter sneaked into ‘Aqabat Jaber refugee camp in Jericho. According to investigations conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), at around 03:14, an Israeli Special Force sneaked via a cargo truck and a Volkswagen Caravelle van into the camp and opened fire at a group of Palestinian young men present in front of a house, wounding 4 of them. The young men managed to evacuate two of those injured to Jericho Hospital, while the 2 others remained on the ground and the Special Force pulled them to an empty warehouse in the area, where they were stripped of their clothes, arrested, and taken away after 40 minutes. At approximately 20:30, IOF declared that death of one the wounded namely Suliman ‘Owaid and kept his body.
On the same day, Hatem As’ad Abu Najma (39), from Beit Safafa village in occupied East Jerusalem, was killed after being shot with several live bullets by an Israeli settler, claiming that he carried out a run-over attack at Agribous intersection adjacent to Machaneh Yehudah Market in central West Jerusalem
Meanwhile, those injured were victims of excessive use of force that accompanied IOF’s incursion into the Palestinian cities and villages, or IOF’s suppression of peaceful protests organized by Palestinian civilians, and they were as follows:
On 14 April 2023, 3 Palestinians, including a child, were shot with rubber-coated bullets in their limbs during IOF’s suppression of Kafr Qaddoum weekly protest in northern Qalqilya.
On 17 April 2023, a Palestinian was shot with a live bullet in his abdomen by IOF in Neve Ya’akov neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, under the pretext that he set an Israeli vehicle ablaze in the area, according to a statement by the Israeli police.
On 18 April 2023, a child was shot with a live bullet in his foot during clashes with IOF after the latter’s incursion into Beit Ummar village in Hebron. Before their withdrawal, IOF arrested 3 Palestinians, including a child.
On the same day, 8 Palestinians were injured by IOF fire during clashes that accompanied the latter’s incursion into Jenin refugee camp. Due to the IOF shooting, the main power transformer in the camp was damaged and led to a power outage. Also, the shooting hit the walls of an UNRWA Clinic in the camp causing damage to the building and an ambulance that tried to evacuate those injured. Before their withdrawal, IOF arrested 3 Palestinians and confiscated a car belonging to one of the arrestees.
Moreover, a Palestinian woman was injured with 2 live bullets in her shoulder and leg after IOF opened fire at her claiming that she carried out a stabbing attack that injured an Israeli settler near Gush Etzion settlement intersection in southern Bethlehem. The wounded woman was taken to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in West Jerusalem for treatment while she is under arrest.
Also, a Palestinian sustained bruises after being severely beaten by IOF who stopped his vehicle at a checkpoint at the northern entrance to Jericho.
On 21 April 2023, 3 Palestinians were shot with live and rubber-coated bullets, and others suffocated during clashes with IOF after the latter’s incursion into Beita village, southeast of Nablus, on the first day of Eid al-Fitr.
On 24 April 2023, 3 Palestinians, including 2 children and a paramedic, were shot with rubber-coated bullets, and hit with a stun grenade during IOF’s suppression of Palestinians who tried to stop IOF’s confiscation of a vehicle in Qarawat Bani Hassan village, west of Salfit.
In the Gaza Strip, at least 11 IOF shootings were reported on agricultural lands in eastern Gaza Strip, and 9 shootings were reported on fishing boats off the Western Gaza shores.
So far in 2023, IOF attacks killed 99 Palestinians, including 51 civilians; 16 of them were children and 1 woman, and the rest were members of the Palestinian armed groups, including 2 children, 7 killed by settlers, and one died in Israeli prisons. Meanwhile, 456 Palestinians, including 60 children, 3 women and 11 journalists, were injured.
Land razing, demolitions, and notices
IOF demolished 6 shops, confiscated lands and vehicles, and handed dozens of cease-construction notices in the West Bank. Details are as follows:
On 16 April 2023, IOF confiscated a Tucson SUV near al-Jalama military checkpoint in northern Jenin.
On 18 April 2023, IOF demolished 6 closed shops with a JCB digger in the Old Market in Hebron’s Old City. It is worth noting that Israeli authorities had declared that area as a closed military zone in 2002, and forced the shops’ owners to close them completely, as there are about 30 shops in the market.
On 19 April 2023, IOF handed 3 cease-construction notices to 3 residential houses in Ni’lin village, west of Ramallah, under the pretext of unlicensed construction.
On the same day, IOF issued a military order to seize 53 dunums for military purposes in Sanniriya village in southern Qalqilya. Upon the order, the seizure will be in force until the end of 2027, and might be renewed similar to previous orders.
On 20 April 2023, the Israeli Civil Administration fixed an order to confiscate a dunum of land in order to expand a settlement road in Al-Khader village, southwest of Bethlehem.
On the same day, IOF confiscated a bobcat bulldozer while working in Kafr ad-Dik village, under the pretext of working in Area C.
Also, IOF confiscated a tractor in Deir Ballut village, west of Salfit, under the pretext of being in Area C.
On 24 April 2023, IOF prevented a Palestinian from levelling his land by a bulldozer to establish a parking lot near a road connecting Nabi Ilyas village with Jayyous village in eastern Qalqilya, under the pretext of working in Area C.
On 25 April 2023, IOF handed 23 cease-construction notices to inhabited houses, others under-construction and a mosque in Az-Zawiya village, west of Salfit.
Since the beginning of 2023, IOF made 64 families homeless, a total of 406 persons, including 81 women and 183 children. This was the outcome of IOF demolition of 67 houses; 16 were forcibly self-demolished by their owners and 6 were demolished on grounds of collective punishment. IOF also demolished 64 other civilian objects, razed other property, and delivered dozens of notices of demolition and cease-construction in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Settler-attacks on Palestinian civilians and their properties:
Israeli settlers seized a house and assaulted Palestinians and their vehicles in 6 attacks in the West Bank. Details are as follows:
On 13 April 2023, Israeli settlers seized an agricultural house near an IOF camp, south of Al-Mazra’a al- Gharbiyia village, north of Ramallah. The settlers fixed an Israeli flag on the house, placed a tent in its yard, stayed inside it, and prevented its owners from entering it.
On 14 April 2023, Israeli settlers threw stones at Palestinian shepherds in pastoral land in eastern Yatta in Hebron and tried to beat them with sticks. IOF then arrived, detained the shepherds and ordered them to leave.
On 15 April 2023, Israeli settlers, who gathered near the eastern entrance to Jab’a village in Bethlehem, threw stones at Palestinians and their vehicles, breaking windows of a vehicle and wounding its driver with a stone in his head.
On 18 April 2023, Israeli settlers broke into agricultural lands in Al-Khader village in Bethlehem, assaulted a number of Palestinians and wounded one of them.
On 19 April 2023, Israeli settlers broke into Palestinian lands in Kisan village, east of Bethlehem, damaged its property and stole 3 sheep.
On 22 April 2023, Israeli settlers punctured tries of an agricultural tractor in Turmus Ayya village, east of Ramallah, after putting nails on the road used by the farmers and other Palestinians.
Since the beginning of the year, settlers have conducted at least 180 attacks against Palestinian civilians and their property. As a result, 7 Palestinians were killed, and dozens of others were injured; most of them after being beaten and thrown with stones. Also, dozens of houses, vehicles and civilian facilities were set ablaze.
Violations of freedom of worship
On 15 April 2023, IOF intensified their deployment around occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City and in its alleys, closing some of its gates with iron barriers, and turned it into a military barrack. They hindered the access of thousands of Christian worshipers to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the Old City to participate in the celebrations of Holy Saturday, which precedes Easter.
Moreover, IOF suppressed hundreds of those participating in the celebrations, pushed them and beat them in several areas after they tried to cross the iron barriers established by the Israeli police on all occupied East Jerusalem’s roads. At around 13:00 with the start of the three Orthodox churches’ celebrations of the Holy Saturday at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, thousands of Christians were prevented from passing through these barriers, causing a stampede, during which IOF assaulted some of the protesters, including foreign pilgrims, in the church outside yard.
On 24 April 2023, IOF banned raising Ish’a prayer call “adhan” at al-Aqsa Mosque and prevented the muezzin “an official who proclaims the call for prayer” from completing the call, under the pretext of settler celebrations in the Western Wall of al-Aqsa Mosque.
On 25 April 2023, IOF suppressed dozens of Palestinian worshipers present near Bab al-Rahma (Golden Gate) at al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, assaulted, pushed and beat them and forcibly dispersed them. They also arrested a Turkish tourist who was with the worshipers and violently assaulted her. It should be noted that since 22 April 2023, IOF have continued its attacks at Bab al-Rahma Mosque, which they raided several times while wearing shoes. IOF prevented the prayer call at al-Rahma Mosque, damaged the electricity networks, loudspeakers and lightings, took its contents out, expelled the worshipers, and confiscated their IDs.
IOF incursions and arrests of Palestinian civilians:
IOF carried out 294 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Those incursions included raids and searches of civilian houses and facilities and establishment of checkpoints. During those incursions, at least 158 Palestinians were arrested, including 10 children and 2 women. In the Gaza Strip, on 16 April 2023, IOF arrested 4 fishermen and confiscated their fishing boat after intercepting it while sailing within 8 nautical miles off Rafah Shore. Three of the fishermen were released on the next day while the fourth was released a week later. Also, on 23 April 2023, IOF conducted a limited incursion into eastern Rafah.
So far in 2023, IOF conducted 3292 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, during which 2011 Palestinians were arrested, including 25 women and 242 children. Also, IOF arrested 27 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, including 10 fishermen and 14 infiltrators into Israel, and 3 travelers at Erez Crossing. IOF also conducted 10 incursions.
Israeli closure and restrictions on freedom of movement and collective punishment policy:
Israeli occupation maintains its illegal and inhuman 16-year closure on the Gaza Strip. Details available in PCHR’s monthly-update in the Gaza crossings.
IOF declared a comprehensive closure on the West Bank and closed all crossings with the Gaza Strip from 24 to 25 April 2023, under the pretext of the “Independence Day” in Israel and the commemoration of the dead Israeli soldiers.
In the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, IOF continues to impose restrictions on the freedom of movement. On top of its110 permanent checkpoints, IOF established 155 temporary military checkpoints in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, where they arrested 14 Palestinians.
For the fifth week in a row, IOF continues to impose a closure on Huwara village, southeast of Nablus, after announcing it a “closed military zone” on 25 March 2023, and imposed a cordon on it. They also closed the internal streets with sand berms, established more military checkpoints and placed cement cubes on the village’s main street, as part of a collective punishment policy following the shooting attack that targeted IOF in the village.
This week, IOF closed the military checkpoints several times in occupied East Jerusalem and Bethlehem and blocked traffic.
So far in 2023,IOF established 1958 temporary military checkpoints and arrested 88 Palestinians at those checkpoints.
Two Palestinians were martyred by the Zionist gunfire on Tuesday during a clash in Deir Al-Hatab village in eastern Nablus.
The Israeli occupation forces detained the bodies of the two martyrs, claiming that they had opened fire at Elon Moreh settlement.
A fresh wave of violent clashes broke out early this morning between Palestinian resistance fighters and Israeli occupation forces in the vicinity of Jenin camp in the occupied West Bank.
Palestinian media reported that the occupation army dispatched a force to the outskirts of the camp, which then deployed snipers on rooftops, leading to the violent confrontations.
Several people were reportedly injured during this conflict. The occupation forces arrested the son of Maher Turkman, who is accused of carrying out the first Jordan Valley operation along with his martyred son and captive nephew.
In the midst of this, Palestinian resistance fighters reportedly detonated an explosive device during the occupation’s attempted storming, causing direct casualties.
Zionist Occupation Authorities Ban Settlers from Storming Al-Aqsa till End of Ramadan
The Zionist settlers will be banned from the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied Al-Quds (Jerusalem) until the end of the Holy Month of Ramadan, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Tuesday.
Before the decision, terrorist settler attacks on Al-Aqsa continued, as hundreds began at dawn today storming the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The settlers were led by former Knesset member Yehuda Glick and were attempting to enter the Mosque during the “Jewish Passover holiday”.
The occupation forces stationed at the mosque gates continued to prevent many worshippers from entering to perform the Fajr prayer. While the Mosque was open, those under 50 years old were not allowed to enter, according to one of its guards.
Meanwhile, Hamas Resistance Movement called on Palestinians to perform religious observance (Itikaf) at Al-Aqsa Mosque during the last ten days of the Holy month of Ramadan, warning the Israeli enemy that any folly against the Holy Shrine would destabilize the whole region.
In recent weeks, calls to storm Al-Aqsa have grown, with some illegal settler groups offering financial rewards for those who could do so.
Furthermore, dozens of illegal Israeli settlers stormed the Mosque on Monday under heavy protection from Israeli occupation forces.
The Palestinians have long been subjected to land seizures, home demolitions, and general disruption of their daily lives. The current situation with the Al-Aqsa Mosque is yet another flashpoint in this ongoing conflict.
The storming of the Mosque by Israeli occupation forces has been condemned by many around the world.
– Iqbal Jassat is an Executive Member of the South Africa-based Media Review Network. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle. Visit: www.mediareviewnet.com
‘Unchartered territory’ is how many mainstream Western media outlets have described the unprecedented political crisis that’s engulfed Benjamin Netanyahu’s rabid right-wing regime.
Overnight the protest movement that’s been brewing for weeks in opposition to his “judicial reforms”, brought the self-proclaimed Jewish state to its knees.
The escalation in protests which shut down the main airport, harbor, universities, businesses, shopping malls, and some ministries, has come as a rude shock to most of the settler-colonial apartheid regime’s allies and hard-core apologists.
The intensity of the crisis saw senior military officials including Yoav Gallant, the Defense Minister take a public stand against plans for the controversial judicial overhaul. Firing him added fuel to a raging fire.
“We’ve never been closer to falling apart. Our national security is at risk, our economy is crumbling, our foreign relations are at their lowest point ever, and we don’t know what to say to our children about their future in this country. We have been taken hostage by a bunch of extremists with no brakes and no boundaries,” is how former PM Yair Lapid described the crisis.
The “shock and awe” of America’s client-state falling apart, in whom the US has invested billions in arms and funds is reflected in back-to-back media coverage.
The Western narrative that internecine civil strife only happens in Syria, Yemen, and Libya – not in Israel, patronized as the “only democracy” in the Middle East, has been exposed as a racist construct.
The reality however is that Zionism as the political underpinning and ideological foundation which led to the dispossession of indigenous Palestinians to pave the way for the creation of Israel has failed.
The irony is that most, if not all, the formations who are at each other’s throats – from protesters to their opponents in the streets and in government – profess to be zionists.
The insults thus hurled at each other such as “anarchists” speaks to the huge divide between racists right-wing settlers and the so-called “left”.
Cynics argue that those perceived to be leftist opponents of the regime are in effect embedded in the status quo. They have yet to transcend their pro-democracy stance by acknowledging that the democratic values preserved for one ethnic group only is no democracy.
A cursory glance at South Africa’s apartheid-era “democracy” explains what Israeli “democracy” implies.
While America’s response to the protests has been largely muted, indications are that the Biden administration has been looking on with alarm. Notwithstanding the billions of dollars it provides in “aid”, the US lacks leverage for fear of treading on the toes of powerful pro-Zionist lobbies.
Having been out-boxed by China’s bold initiative to pave the way for Iran and Saudi Arabia to rekindle full diplomatic and economic ties, America’s strategy alongside Israel’s has been severely impaired.
Most of the region especially those Arab states who have opted to “normalize” ties on the basis of the “Abraham Accords” would be concerned about the end result of the turmoil. Their security which they hinged to Israel’s security is on a roller coaster ride.
As America’s influence wanes so too will they have to reconfigure their “normalisation” while at the same time weighing their options which include closing ranks with Syria.
Turkey faces a similar conundrum. It cannot pretend any longer that ties with Israel guarantee “protection” while observing the impending disaster unfolding in the Jewish state.
That Palestinian people continue to be hunted down and killed by settler-militias and by the regime’s armed forces, while protesters on the streets remain oblivious of these crimes, explains why the crisis faced by Israel is mainly about Israelis against themselves.
Palestinians remain subject to harsh restrictions, military checkpoints, arbitrary arrests, home demolitions and occupation. None of their grievances have featured in the protests, thus rendering them invisible, while their precious lives are on the line.
The only recourse they have in defending their lives and properties is to resist the occupation.
By all accounts, as much as the crises facing Israel are unprecedented in scale and numbers, it remains a selfish outpouring of anger directed against Netanyahu’s subjugation of the judiciary.
Though he has pushed the pause button, Netanyahu has already pushed through part of the bill which effectively strips the court of the power to declare a prime minister (himself) unfit for office. Though he denies any wrongdoing, it is known that Netanyahu is determined to push the “reforms” through due to his own ongoing corruption trial where he faces charges of fraud, bribery, and breach of trust.
Though Israel’s image has been severely damaged by its own racist right-wing extremists, and its macho power weakened at the same time, the core of Palestine’s freedom struggle to rid itself of the occupation has not altered.
4 Palestinians, one of them from the Negev, were killed, and 16 others were wounded, including two children while dozens of others suffocated in the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) attacks in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), including East Jerusalem. Details are as follows:
On 01 April 2023, Mohammad Rateb Baradhiya (23) was killed after IOF opened fire at him and his vehicle that he was driving. His vehicle crashed into an IOF military vehicle parked on the side of the Bypass Road (60) near the entrance to Beit Ummar in Hebron. IOF announced that they opened fire at a Palestinian, who carried out a run-over attack that injured two soldiers. IOF kept the body of Baradhiya and took it with them.
On 31 March 2023, Mohammad Khaled Al-‘Osaibi (26), a doctor from Houra village in Negev in Israel, was killed with several live bullets fired by IOF from a distance of 1-meter, after altercations erupted between him and an Israeli police officer during interrogation at the Chain Gate leading to Al-Aqsa Mosque. He was detained at the time IOF was trying to evacuate the area after Tarawih prayers. IOF claimed that Al-‘Osaibi snatched a weapon from a police officer and used it to open fire. As a result, the police officers fired several bullets at him and immediately killed him. While IOF were evacuating the area, they assaulted shopkeepers and Palestinians by beating and pushing them and destroying the goods of some shops, and arrested a Palestinian in central Qattanin Market after severely beating him.
03 April 2023, Mohammad Naser Sa’eed (21) and Mohammad Mustafa ‘Ali Abu Baker (42), from Nablus, both members of the Palestinian armed groups, were killed by IOF’s fire during clashes after the latter’s incursion into Al-Makhfiyya neighborhood in Nablus and cordoning one of the houses. During the incursion, IOF broke into several apartments, interrogated their residents, and unleashed a detection dog at a university student, biting his left leg while interrogating his colleague. Before withdrawal, IOF arrested two Palestinians, claiming that they were “wanted”.
Meanwhile, those injured were victims of excessive use of force that accompanied IOF incursions into cities and villages or suppression of peaceful protests organized by Palestinian civilians, and they were as follows:
On 30 March 2023, 2 Palestinians were injured during clashes with IOF after the latter’s incursion into Qabatiya in Jenin. Before withdrawal, IOF arrested Palestinians.
On the same day, dozens of players and spectators suffocated and fainted due to tear gas inhalation, after IOF heavily fired tear gas canisters at Faisal Al-Hussini Stadium in Al-Ram village in occupied East Jerusalem. The incident coincided with the presence of the Turkish Ambassador inside the stadium to watch the match along with Jibril Rajoub, President of the Palestinian Football Association (PFA).
On 31 March 2023, 3 Palestinians, including two children, were injured during IOF’s suppression of Kafr Qaddoum weekly protest in northern Qalqilya.
On 02 April 2023, a Palestinian was injured with a rubber-coated metal bullet in the chest during clashes with IOF in the town of Beit Ummar in Hebron.
On 04 April 2023, 3 Palestinians were injured; one of them was seriously wounded after being shot with a live bullet in the abdomen, during clashes with IOF, after the latter’s raid on Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem. Before withdrawing, IOF broke into dozens of residential homes and arrested 7 Palestinians, including a woman.
On the same day, an undercover Israeli force dressed like Palestinian civilians, opened fire at ‘Omar Ibrahim Abu Mayyalah (15), after claiming that he attempted to put a Molotov Cocktail inside a vehicle belonging to the settlement outpost guards, in conjunction with the clashes with IOF in Silwan, East Jerusalem. As a result, Abu Mayyalah was wounded with a live bullet, and while people tried to provide him first aid and take him to Al-Makassed Hospital in Al-Tur neighborhood via a private vehicle, IOF chased them, closed the streets, raided the Hospital, arrested the child, and referred him to Hadassah Al-Issawiya Hospital. Also, IOF arrested 6 Palestinians after chasing young men and boys and raiding several homes.
During this week, confrontations with IOF repeatedly broke out, where tear gas canisters were fired. As a result, dozens were suffocated during IOF’s raids of Hebron neighborhoods.
In the Gaza Strip, 5 Palestinians were injured with live bullets, and others suffocated, after IOF stationed along the security fence in eastern Gaza, opened fire at them and fired tear gas canisters at a youth gathering in Malka area, east of Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, to commemorate Earth Day on 30 March 2023. Also, 6 IOF shootings were reported on agricultural lands in eastern Gaza, and 8 shootings were reported on fishing boats off the Western Gaza shores. IOF carried out several airstrikes and artillery shelling targeting two sites of the Palestinian armed groups and border control points, east of the Gaza Strip at dawn on 05 April 2023, causing damage but no injuries.
So far in 2023, IOF attacks killed 93 Palestinians, including 47 civilians; 15 of them were children, a woman, and the rest were members of the Palestinian armed groups, including 2 children, 6 killed by settlers, and one died in Israeli prisons. Meanwhile, 414 Palestinians, including 56 children, 2 women and 10 journalists, were injured.
Al-Aqsa Mosque Raid
On the evening of 04 April 2023, IOF raided al-Aqsa Mosque and its praying halls, violently assaulted Palestinian worshipers inside the mosque and in its yards and fired stun grenades and rubber bullets at them until dawn of the following day. IOF also arrested and attacked more than 400 Palestinians, including 65 children, after cordoning off and storming al-Qibli Mosque, assaulting the worshipers and severely beating them with batons and helmets, sustaining dozens of them bruises and wounds. Afterwards, IOF released 397 detainees, on the condition of deportation from Al-Aqsa and the Old, after conducting field investigations, and kept the rest in detention. (Details available at PCHR’s press release).
On 05 April 2023, IOF arrested journalist Wahbi Kamel Makiya (39), when he was trying to cover the raid of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and document IOF assaults on the worshipers while securing the settlers’ raids on the first day of Jewish Passover.
In the evening, IOF re-stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque, and assaulted worshipers with stun grenades, tear gas canisters and rubber bullets. Following Tarawih prayer, IOF surrounded Al-Qibli Mosque, attacked worshipers, forced them out of the prayer hall and did not allow them to perform Witr prayer which is usually performed after Tarawih. IOF then forced all those present at the Mosque’sl doors and violently beat them with sticks. Minutes later, the heavily-armed forces raided al-Qibli Mosque amid heavy firing of rubber-coated bullets, assaulted the worshipers inside while performing Witr prayer, severely beat them with sticks, and fired rubber bullets and stun grenades inside to force them to leave immediately. As soon as the worshipers left Al-Qibli Mosque, Israeli Special Forces chased them in the Mosque’s yards to force them out via Al-Aqsa gates. They also chased them outside the gates, beat them with sticks and pushed them especially at Al-Asbat gate (Lions Gate), Hitta Gate (Remission Gate) and Chain Gate.
It should be noted that IOF, since the beginning of Ramadan, prevent Palestinians from performing I’tikaaf prayers and staying in Al-Aqsa Mosque after performing Tarawih prayers. They force them to leave and prevent them entry to the Mosque until the dawn prayer.
Land razing, demolitions, and notices
On 30 March 2023, IOF demolished a 170-sqm under-construction house and a 30-sqm barracks during the latter’s raid into Al-Nuwaimeh village in Jericho, under the pretext of unlicensed construction. It is noteworthy that the owner of the house has a wife and 7 children.
Since the beginning of 2023, IOF made 64 families homeless, a total of 406 persons, including 81 women and 183 children. This was the outcome of IOF demolition of 67 houses; 16 were forcibly self-demolished by their owners and 6 were demolished on grounds of collective punishment. IOF also demolished 58 other civilian objects, razed other property, and delivered dozens of notices of demolition and cease-construction in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Settler-attacks and retaliatory acts
Settlers carried out 6 attacks against Palestinians and their property in the West Bank, including uprooting and burning trees and wounding a Palestinian woman after attacking her with stones. Details are as follows:
On 31 March 2023, settlers uprooted 400 olive and grape seedlings from the agricultural lands in Al-Khader village, southwest of Bethlehem. On 03 April 2023, settlers broke into the area again and uprooted 40 more olive trees and stole them.
On 01 April 2023, settlers uprooted branches of 20 olive trees in Khalayel Al-Luz village, south of Bethlehem.
On 02 April 2023, settlers, protected by IOF, attacked lands and homes of citizens in Sha’ab Al-Sir area in Hebron, burned 20 old olive trees, and attacked Palestinians’ homes with stones. As a result, a woman was injured with a stone in her abdomen. When the villagers tried to confront them, IOF intervened and fired teargas canisters at them. Later, the settlers withdrew, but they returned in the next 2 days and attacked the Palestinians’ home.
Since the beginning of the year, settlers have conducted at least 168 attacks against Palestinian civilians and their property. As a result, 6 Palestinians were killed, and dozens of others were injured; most of them after being beaten and thrown with stones. Also, dozens of houses, vehicles and civilian facilities were set ablaze.
IOF incursions and arrests of Palestinian civilians:
IOF carried out 229 into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Those incursions included raids and searches of civilian houses and facilities and establishment of checkpoints. During those incursions, 547 Palestinians were arrested, including 69 children, 2 women and a journalist. Most of the arrests were in the city of Jerusalem, the largest was an arrest campaign that targeted hundreds of Palestinians after being assaulted inside Al-Qibli Mosque in al-Aqsa Mosque at dawn on 05 April 2023.
So far in 2023, IOF conducted 2806 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, during which 1790 Palestinians were arrested, including 23 women and 227 children. Also, IOF arrested 23 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip; 6 were fishermen and 14 were trying to infiltrate into Israel, and 3 travelers at Erez Crossing. IOF also conducted 9 incursions.
Israeli closure, restrictions on freedom of movement and collective punishment
Israeli occupation maintains its illegal and inhuman 16-year closure on the Gaza Strip. Details available in PCHR’s monthly-update in the Gaza crossings.
On 05 April 2023, in the evening, IOF imposed a comprehensive closure on the West Bank, and closed the crossings with the Gaza Strip to be later opened on 08 April 2023 under the pretext of the Jewish Passover holiday.
In the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, IOF continue to impose restrictions on the freedom of movement. On top of its 110 permanent checkpoints, IOF established 124 temporary military checkpoints in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, and arrested 7 Palestinians at those checkpoints.
For the second week in a row, IOF continue to impose a closure on Huwara village, southeast of Nablus, after announcing it a “closed military zone” on 25 March 2023, and imposed a cordon on it. They closed the internal streets with sand berms, established more checkpoints and placed cement cubes on the village’s main street, as part of the collective punishment policy following the shooting attack against IOF in the village. IOF’s restrictions extended to affect all Nablus, as they closed all military checkpoints leading to the village, rendering entry into the city almost impossible.
On 03 April 2023, IOF closed the entrance to Beita village adjacent to Huwara village, southeast of Nablus with berms, cement blocks and an electronic detector gate and denied entry into the village.
So far in 2023, IOF established 1682 temporary military checkpoints and arrested 70 Palestinians at those checkpoints.
Two Palestinians were killed and 7 others, including 3 children, were injured, while dozens of others suffocated in Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF)’s attacks in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Details are as follows:
On 23 March 2023, Ameer ‘Emad Abu Khadijah (25), a member of Palestinian armed groups, was killed by IOF’s fire after the latter cordoned off a house, where Abu Khadijah was fortified. According to investigations conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), IOF moved into Izbat Shufa village, southeast of Tulkarm, and cordoned off a house, where Abu Khadijah was fortified. An exchange of fire occurred before IOF raided the house and fired a projectile at it. About half an hour later, IOF withdrew after arresting the house’s owner. Following IOF’s withdrawal, villagers found Abu Khadijah’s body covered in blood inside one of the house’s rooms, as he was shot with several live bullets in his head and lower limbs. Also, there were traces of bullets that were heavily fired at the room’s walls.
On 28 March 2023, medical sources at An-Najah Hospital in Nablus declared the death of ‘Ameer Mohammed Lolah (28), a member of Palestinian armed groups, after he succumbed to an abdomen injury caused by a live bullet fired by IOF during clashes on 22 February 2023 while IOF were surrounding a house in Nablus’s Old City. At the time, those clashes resulted in the killing of 11 Palestinians, including 4 civilians, and the injury of tens of others, including 9 seriously injured.
Meanwhile, those injured were victims of excessive use of force that accompanied IOF’s incursions into the Palestinian cities and villages, or IOF’s suppression of peaceful protests organized by Palestinian civilians, and they were as follows:
On 23 March 2023, a child, who was near his school, was shot with a rubber-coated bullet in his foot by IOF after their incursion into al-Ram village in occupied East Jerusalem. Before their withdrawal, IOF arrested two Palestinians from their houses.
On 25 March 2023, a Palestinian sustained minor wounds and tens of others suffocated in clashes with IOF during their incursion into al-Khader village in Bethlehem.
On 27 March 2023, IOF arrested a child after being shot with a rubber-coated bullet in his foot during clashes that accompanied IOF’s incursion into al-Khader village in Bethlehem.
On the same day in the afternoon, 4 Palestinians were injured, including a child whose leg was amputated, by IOF’s fire during the latter’s incursion into ‘Aqabat Jaber camp in Jericho. Before their withdrawal, IOF arrested a Palestinian whose two of his sons were previously shot dead by IOF on 06 February 2023.
This week witnessed recurrent clashes with IOF in occupied East Jerusalem and Bethlehem’s neighborhoods, where IOF fired teargas canisters, causing suffocations among tens of Palestinians.
In the Gaza Strip, 3 IOF shootings were reported on agricultural lands in eastern Gaza Strip, and 2 shootings were reported on fishing boats off the Western Gaza shores.
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So far in 2023, IOF attacks killed 89 Palestinians, including 45 civilians; 15 of them were children and a woman, and the rest were members of the Palestinian armed groups, including 2 children, as well as 6 killed by settlers, and one died in Israeli prisons. Meanwhile, 398 Palestinians, including 54 children, 2 women and 10 journalists, were injured.
Land razing, demolitions, and notices
IOF demolished a commercial facility and notified to demolish a house, a facility, a mosque, and 7 graves. They also confiscated a garbage truck in the West Bank. Details are as follows:
On 24 March 2023, IOF confiscated Biddya municipality’s garbage truck during their incursion into Qarawat Bani Hassan village, west of Salfit. This was the 3rd garbage truck to be confiscated by IOF within a month in Salfit, under the pretext of working in Area C.
On the same day, IOF hanged two demolition orders on a 160-sqm concrete house, which is supposed to be resided by a family of 12, including 3 children, and on a 200-sqm agricultural facility built of isolated tinplate and used for breeding livestock in Al-Burj village in Hebron.
Also, upon military order No. (1797), IOF notified to demolish 7 graves in Abu al-Tuq Cemetery in Al-Burj village. Those graves are located in a 140 -dunum land belonging to the Islamic Endowment (Awqaf) Department: 35 dunums remained under the Islamic Endowment’s control while the rest were seized due to the construction of the annexation wall.
On 27 March 2023, IOF notified to demolish Belal Ibn Rabah Mosque built on an area of 150 square meters in Khashem al-Daraj village in Hebron, under the pretext of unlicensed construction.
On 28 March 2023, IOF demolished a 350-sqm commercial facility in Dayr Balut village, west of Salfit, under the pretext of being near the annexation wall. During the demolition, IOF fired teargas canisters at the villagers to prevent them from confronting the demolition. As a result, many villagers suffocated.
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Since the beginning of 2023, IOF made 64 families homeless, a total of 406 persons, including 81 women and 183 children. This was the outcome of IOF demolition of 66 houses; 16 were forcibly self-demolished by their owners and 6 were demolished on grounds of collective punishment. IOF also demolished 56 other civilian objects, razed other property, and delivered dozens of notices of demolition and cease-construction in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Settler-attacks and retaliatory acts:
Settlers carried out 5 attacks against Palestinians and their property in the West Bank, most notably setting a house and 2 vehicles ablaze and attacking 2 Palestinians. Details are as follows:
On 24 March 2023, Israeli settlers brought their sheep to graze the agricultural crops surrounding al-Zowaiden village in southern Hebron. As a result, part of the crops was damaged. Meanwhile, a number of villagers arrived and tried to confront the settlers and force them out of their lands. Afterwards, a large force of IOF and police arrived at the area and forced the villagers to leave after detaining 3 of them and releasing them later. It is worth noting that Israeli authorities declared the lands surrounding Zowaiden village as a military Firing Zone under the so-called “Training Area 917”, while an Israeli settler established a settlement outpost near the village.
On 26 March 2023, Israeli settlers burned a 70-sqm house adjacent to the settlement Street 60, which connects Ramallah with Nablus, in Sinjil village, east of Ramallah. The house is 50 meters away from an IOF military site. The house’s owner said to PCHR’s fieldworker that 4 Israeli settlers attacked his house with Molotov Cocktails and he and his family members managed to exit from the back door before the house was completely burned.
On the same day, Israeli settlers threw stones at Palestinian vehicles passing by “Yitzhar” Bypass Road in Huwara village. As a result, windshield of a truck was broken.
On 27 March 2023, Israeli settlers set a truck and a vehicle ablaze and broke the windows of two ambulances, one of them was carrying samples to Tulkarm Hospital, and 3 other vehicles in widescale attacks on Huwara village.
On 29 March 2023, Israeli settlers attacked a house belonging to an elderly man in Kisan village, east of Bethlehem, and severely beat him and his son. As a result, the elderly man and his son sustained injuries and bruises and were taken to al-Hussain Hospital in Beit Jala village for treatment.
”
Since the beginning of the year, settlers have conducted at least 162 attacks against Palestinian civilians and their property. As a result, 6 Palestinians were killed and dozens of others were injured; most of them after being beaten and thrown with stones. Also, dozens of houses, vehicles and civilian facilities were set ablaze.
IOF incursions and arrests of Palestinian civilians:
IOF carried out 185 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Those incursions included raids and searches of civilian houses and facilities and establishment of checkpoints. During those incursions, at least 81 Palestinians were arrested, including 10 children and a woman.
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So far in 2023, IOF conducted 2,577 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, during which 1,243 Palestinians were arrested, including 21 women and 158 children. Also, IOF conducted 9 incursions and arrested 23 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, including 6 fishermen, 14 infiltrators into Israel, and 3 travelers at Erez Crossing.
Israeli closure, restrictions on freedom of movement and collective punishment:
Israeli occupation maintains its illegal and inhuman 15-year closure on the Gaza Strip. Details available in PCHR’s monthly-updatein the Gaza crossings.
In the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, IOF continue to impose restrictions on the freedom of movement. On top of its110 permanent checkpoints, IOF established 105 temporary military checkpoints in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.
On 23 March 2023, IOF closed the vehicles lane at the military checkpoint 300 in northern Bethlehem and it is expected to remain closed throughout the month of Ramadan.
On 24 March 2023, IOF closed the metal detector gate established at the western entrance to Husan village and reopened it later.
On 25 March 2023, IOF declared Huwara village, southeast of Nablus, as a closed military zone and imposed a cordon on it. They closed the internal streets with sand berms, established more checkpoints and placed cement cubes on the village’s main street, as part of the collective punishment policy following the shooting attack against IOF in the village. IOF’s restrictions extended to affect all Nablus, as they closed all military checkpoints leading to the village, rendering entry into the city almost impossible.
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So far in 2023, IOF established 1,558 temporary checkpoints and arrested 63 Palestinians at those checkpoints.
5 Palestinians, including 3 civilians; one of them was a child, were killed, while 42 others were wounded, and dozens of others suffocated in Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) attacks in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Details are as follows:
On 16 March 2023, an Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Special Force killed 4 Palestinians, including 2 members of the Palestinian armed groups who were directly shot and assassinated in cold blood as part of IOF’s crimes of extra-juridical executions. Of those killed, two civilians, including a child, were killed in a random shooting by the Israeli Special Force that have also injured 23 Palestinians, including 4 in serious condition. (Details available at PCHR’s press release).
On 17 March 2023, Yazan ‘Omar Khasib (23), was deliberately and directly shot dead by IOF near al-Mahkama military checkpoint at the northern entrance to al-Bireh, claiming that he attempted to carry out a stabbing attack using a knife, but there was no Palestinian eyewitness to the incident. Khasib was a student at Birzeit University in Ramallah, and IOF kept his body in their custody to be handed later in the evening. He was transferred to the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah where it was found out that he was shot with 2 bullets in the neck and the chest.
Meanwhile, those injured were victims of excessive use of force that accompanied IOF incursions into cities and villages and suppression of peaceful protests organized by Palestinian civilians, and they were as follows:
On 17 March 2023, 8 Palestinians, including a child, were injured with rubber-coated metal bullets during IOF’s suppression of Kafr Qaddoum weekly protest in northern Qalqilya.
On the same day, 8 Palestinians, including 3 children, were wounded with live and metal bullets during clashes with IOF at the entrance to Beit Ummar village, north of Hebron, where IOF established a military observation point at the intersection leading to Bypass Road (60).
On 18 March 2023, a child was wounded with a live bullet in the left leg unjustifiably by IOF nearby Faqqu’a cemetery in Jenin, about 200 meters away from the annexational wall.
On the same day, a girl sustained a fracture in left ankle after being unjustifiably kicked by an Israeli soldier when she was detained with her family in their agricultural land in southeastern Yatta in Hebron.
On 22 March 2023, dozens of Palestinians, including patients and newborns, suffocated after IOF fired tear gas canister during the latter’s incursion into the vicinity of the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah. IOF also opened fire enticing fear among patients, women, and children.
On the same day, 2 Palestinian, including a photojournalist, were wounded with IOF’s fire during their incursion into the city of Jericho. Before withdrawing, IOF arrested 4 Palestinians, including a child.
In the Gaza Strip, 6 IOF shootings were reported on agricultural lands, and 3 shootings were reported on fishing boats off the Gaza western Gaza shores).
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So far in 2023, IOF attacks killed 87 Palestinians, including 45 civilians; 15 of them were children, a woman, and the rest were members of the Palestinian armed groups, including 2 children, 6 killed by settlers, and one died in Israeli prisons. Meanwhile, 391 Palestinians, including 51 children, 2 women and 10 journalists, were injured.
Land razing, demolitions, and notices
IOF demolished 3 houses and handed notices to demolish and cease construction work in 8 houses and facilities in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, rendering two families of 11, homeless. Details are as follows:
On 16 March 2023, IOF demolished a 35-sqm under-construction house in Deir ‘Ammar in Ramallah under the pretext of unlicensed construction.
On 18 March 2023, IOF demolished two residential houses built of wood and tin, with an area of 100-sqms each, in Al-Za’im village in East Jerusalem, displacing 2 families of 11.
On 21 March 2023, IOF handed notices to cease construction works in 8 houses, agricultural rooms, and commercial facilities in Deir Ballut village, west of Salfit, under the pretext of unlicensed construction in Area (C).
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Since the beginning of 2023, IOF made 64 families homeless, a total of 406 persons, including 81 women and 183 children. This was the outcome of IOF demolition of 66 houses; 16 were forcibly self-demolished by their owners and 6 were demolished on grounds of collective punishment. IOF also demolished 56 other civilian objects, razed other property, and delivered dozens of notices of demolition, cease-construction, and evacuation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Settler-attacks and retaliatory attacks
Settlers carried out 8 attacks on Palestinians and their property in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, most notably a raid on a church and attempting to vandalize its contents. Details are as follows:
On 16 March 2023, a Palestinian was injured after being beaten and pepper-sprayed by settler in Khirbet al-Tuba in Masafer Yatta in Hebron. This attack came after the Palestinian attempted to prevent the settler, who came from the “Hafat Ma’on” settlement outpost, established on the Palestinian lands, from sheep-grazing in the Palestinian’s agricultural land in the area.
On 17 March 2023, settlers from the “Beitar Illit” settlement established on the Palestinian lands cut about 50 fruitful and old olive trees in the village of Husan, west of Bethlehem. The settlers also destroyed barbed wires and stone chains surrounding a 5-dunum plot of land.
On 19 March 2023, settlers, from “Yitzhar” settlement, established on the Palestinian lands, south of Nablus, attacked Palestinian vehicles passing through Al-Muraba’a Road towards Maadama Gate, southeast of Nablus. As a result, the front, rear and right-side windows of a Palestinian vehicles were broken. The attack took place amid a shooting that resulted in the injury of two settlers in Huwara village, southeast of Nablus.
On the same day, two settlers raided the Church of the Tomb of Virgin Mary in East Jerusalem and attempted to vandalize it. The Jerusalem governorate reported that the two settlers broke into the church and tried to vandalize its contents. However, a Palestinian confronted the settlers and arrested one of them while the other fled away.
Settlers also threw stones at a number of vehicles at the entrance to Beitin village, east of Ramallah, smashing the windows of many of them.
On 20 March 2023, settlers threw stones at Palestinian vehicles and damaged them on Al-Ma’rajat road, west of Jericho. As a result, some of them sustained damage while a Palestinian sustained injury and his wife fainted.
On 21 March 2023, settlers slashed the tires of Palestinian vehicles and wrote racist slogans in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem.
On 22 March 2023, a Palestinian woman sustained bruises after settlers attacked the Palestinian tents in Khirbet Al-Farisiya in the northern Jordan Valley.
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Since the beginning of the year, settlers have conducted at least 157 attacks against Palestinian civilians and their property. As a result, 6 Palestinians were killed and dozens of others were injured; most of them after being beaten and thrown with stones. Also, dozens of houses, vehicles and civilian facilities were set ablaze.
IOF incursions and arrests of Palestinian civilians:
IOF carried out 218 into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Those incursions included raids and searches of civilian houses and facilities and establishment of checkpoints. During those incursions, 102 Palestinians were arrested, including 8 children. In the Gaza Strip, IOF arrested 4 Palestinians, including 2 children while trying to infiltrate east of Al-Bureij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on 15 March 2023, and the other two were arrested at Beit Hanoun “Erez” checkpoint, including a patient who was arrested on his way back to Gaza from treatment. (Details available at PCHR’s press release).
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So far in 2023, IOF conducted 2,392 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, during which 1162 Palestinians were arrested, including 20 women and 148 children. Also, IOF arrested 23 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip: 6 were fishermen and 14 were trying to infiltrate into Israel, and 3 travelers at Erez Crossing. IOF also conducted 9 incursions.
Closure of Jerusalem institutions
On 20 March 2023, the Israeli authorities hanged a decision signed by the Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, at Marcel Company for production and media services in Beit Hanina in East Jerusalem. Also, they summoned 5 journalists for investigation on grounds of working for Palestine TV upon Ben-Gvir’s decision to close the Voice of Palestine Radio Station offices, an official Palestinian Authority (PA) channel, and ban their representatives from operating and broadcasting in occupied Jerusalem and Israel for six months. (Details available at PCHR’s press release.)
Israeli closure and restrictions on freedom of movement:
Israeli occupation maintains its illegal and inhuman 15-year closure on the Gaza Strip. Details available in PCHR’s monthly-update in the Gaza crossings.
In the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, IOF continue to impose restrictions on the freedom of movement. On top of its 110 permanent checkpoints, IOF established 127 temporary military checkpoints in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, and arrested 3 Palestinians at those checkpoints.
On 17 March 2023, IOF closed many streets in East Jerusalem, under the pretext of securing a marathon organized by the Israeli Occupation Municipality with hundreds of Israelis participating in it. The closure reached ten of streets from north of Jerusalem (French Hill and Sheikh Jarrah) and all the way to the south (Jerusalem-Hebron Street), including Al-Musrara neighborhood, Hebron Gate, Al-Jadeed Gate, and Jaffa Street, amid heavy deployment of the IOF on the roads, under the pretext of securing the 2023 Jerusalem Marathon.
On 19 March 2023, IOF closed the iron detector gate at the entrance to Nabi Saleh village, northwest of Ramallah.
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So far in 2023, IOF established 1453 temporary military checkpoints and arrested 63 Palestinians at those checkpoints.
ِAs hundreds of thousands throughout Israel joined anti-government protests, questions began to arise regarding how this movement would affect, or possibly merge, into the broader struggle against the Israeli military occupation and apartheid in Palestine.
Pro-Palestine media outlets shared, with obvious excitement, news about statements made by Hollywood celebrities, like Mark Ruffalo, about the need to “sanction the new hard rightwing government of (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu.”
Netanyahu, who sits at the heart of the current controversy and mass protests, struggled to find a single pilot for the flight carrying him to Rome on March 9 for a three-day visit with the Italian government. The reception for the Israeli leader in Italy was equally cold. Italian translator Olga Dalia Padoa reportedly refused to interpret Netanyahu’s speech, scheduled for March 9 at a Rome synagogue.
One can appreciate the need to strategically use the upheaval against Netanyahu’s far-right government to expose Israel’s fraudulent claim to true democracy, supposedly ‘the only democracy in the Middle East.’ However, one has to be equally careful not to validate Israel’s inherently racist institutions that had existed for decades before Netanyahu arrived in power.
The Israeli Prime Minister has been embroiled in corruption cases for years. Though he remained popular, Netanyahu lost his position at the helm of Israeli politics in June 2021 following three bitterly-contested elections. Yet, he returned on December 29, 2022, this time with even more corrupt – even by Israel’s own definition – characters such as Aryeh Deri, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, the latter two currently serving as the ministers of finance and national security, respectively.
Each one of these characters had a different reason for joining the coalition. For example, Smotrich and Ben Gvir’s agenda ranged from annexing illegal West Bank settlements to the deportation of Arab politicians considered ‘disloyal’ to the state.
Netanyahu, though a rightwing ideologue, is more concerned with personal ambitions: maintaining power as long as possible while shielding himself and his family from legal problems. He simply wants to stay out of prison. To do so, he also needs to satisfy the dangerous demands of his allies, who have been given free rein to unleash army and settler violence against Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank, as has been the case in Huwwara, Nablus, Jenin and elsewhere.
But Netanyahu’s government, the most stable in years, has bigger goals than just “wiping out” Palestinian towns off the map. Instead, they want to alter the judicial system that would allow them to transform Israeli society. The reform would grant the government control over judicial appointments by limiting the Israeli Supreme Court’s power to exercise judicial review.
The protests in Israel have very little to do with the Israeli occupation and apartheid and are hardly concerned with Palestinian rights. They are led by many former Israeli leaders, like former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, former minister Tzipi Livni and former prime minister and leader of the opposition Yair Lapid. During the Naftali Bennett-Yair Lapid stint in power, between June 2021 and December 2022, hundreds of Palestinians were killed in the West Bank. UN Special Coordinator described 2022 for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, as the “deadliest” in the West Bank since 2005. Illegal Jewish settlements expanded rapidly during that time, while Gaza was routinely bombed.
Yet, the Bennett-Lapid government faced little backlash from Israeli society for its bloody and illegal actions in Palestine. The Israeli Supreme Court, which has approved most of the government actions in Occupied Palestine, also faced little or no protests for certifying apartheid and validating the supposed legality of the Jewish colonies, all illegal under international law. The stamp of approval by the Supreme Court was also granted when Israel passed the Nation-State Law, identifying itself exclusively as a Jewish state, thus casting off the entirety of the Arab Muslim and Christian population, which shares the same mass of land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
Rarely did the Israeli judicial system take the side of Palestinians, and when little ‘victories’ were recorded now and then, they hardly altered the overall reality. Though one can understand the desperation of those trying to fight against Israeli injustices using the country’s own ‘justice system,’ such language has contributed to the confusion regarding what Israel’s ongoing protests mean for Palestinians.
This is not the first time Israelis have gone out on the streets in large numbers. In August 2011, Israel experienced what some called Israel’s own ‘Arab Spring.’ But that was also a class struggle within clearly defined ideological boundaries and political interests that rarely overlapped with a parallel battle for equality, justice and human rights.
Dual socio-economic struggles exist in many societies worldwide, and conflating between them is not unprecedented. In the case of Israel, however, such confusion can be dangerous because the outcome of Israel’s protests, be it a success or failure, could spur unfounded optimism or demoralize those fighting for Palestinian freedom.
Though stark violations of international law, arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial executions and everyday violence against Palestinians mainly occur within Israel’s legal framework. These acts are fully sanctioned by Israeli courts, including the country’s Supreme Court. This means that, even if Netanyahu fails to hegemonize the judicial system, Palestinian civilians will continue to be tried in military courts, which will carry out the routine of approving home demolition, illegal land seizure and the construction of settlements.
A proper engagement with the ongoing protests is to expose further how Tel Aviv utilizes the judicial system to maintain the illusion that Israel is a country of law and order and that all the actions and violence in Palestine, however bloody and destructive, are entirely justifiable according to the country’s legal framework.
Yes, Israel should be sanctioned, not because of Netanyahu’s attempt at co-opting the judiciary, but because the apartheid and regime of military occupation constitute complete disregard and utter violation of international law. Whether Israelis like it or not, international law is the only law that matters to an occupied and oppressed nation.
Feature photo | Israeli demonstrators take part in an anti-government protest in Tel Aviv, March 16, 2023. Ilia Yefimovich | C dpa via AP
Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of six books. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is ‘Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak Out.’ His other books include ‘My Father was a Freedom Fighter’ and ‘The Last Earth.’ Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). His website is www.ramzybaroud.net
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect MintPress News editorial policy.
Nine Palestinians were killed, including 3 civilians: 2 of them were children. One of the children succumbed to his previous injury, while a Palestinian was killed by an Israeli settler. Meanwhile, 10 Palestinians, including a child and a journalist, were injured, while dozens of others suffocated in Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) attacks in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Also, 4 fishermen were injured in the Gaza Strip. Details are as follows:
On 09 March 2023, as part of their extrajudicial execution crimes, IOF killed 3 Palestinians after intercepting their vehicle and directly shooting and killing them in Jaba’ village in Jenin, north of the West Bank.( Details available at PCHR’s press release).
On 09 March 2023, medical sources at al-Maqassed Hospital announced the death of Waleed Sa’d Nassar (14) after he succumbed to a live bullet injury in his waist. IOF shot him when he was in front of his house during IOF’s incursion into Jenin on 07 March 2023. He was then taken to al-Razi Hospital in the City, but due to his serious health condition, he was referred to al-Maqassed Hospital.
On 10 March 2023, ‘Abdul Karim Badee’ al-Shaikh (21), from Qalqilya, was shot dead by an Israeli settler near “Ma’ale Shomron” settlement in eastern Qalqilya. IOF announced that the settler claimed that al-Shaikh attempted to stab him with a knife, but there were no eyewitnesses to the incident.
On the same day, medical sources at Darwish Nazal Governmental Hospital in Qalqilya declared the death of Ameer Ma’moun ‘Odah (16) shortly after being shot with a live bullet in his chest by an Israeli sniper only few meters away from him. IOF claimed that ‘Odah tried to throw a Molotov Cocktail at IOF during clashes near a military checkpoint established at the northern entrance to Qalqilya. Also, another Palestinian was injured during the same clashes.
On 12 March 2023, IOF killed 3 members of Palestinian armed groups and arrested another one after they laid an ambush for them and clashed with them near the military checkpoint established between Jit and Sarra villages, west of Nablus. Those killed were identified as: Jehad Mohammed al-Shami (24), ‘Odai Rafeeq al-Shami (22) and Mohammed Raied al-Dabeek (18) and their bodies are so far under Israeli custody.
Meanwhile, those injured were victims of excessive use of force that accompanied IOF’s incursions into the Palestinian cities and villages, or IOF’s suppression of peaceful protests organized by Palestinian civilians, and they were as follows:
On 09 March 2023, a Palestinian was shot with a rubber bullet in his foot during clashes that accompanied IOF’s incursion into Ni’lin village in Ramallah. Before their withdrawal, IOF arrested a Palestinian and his son.
On the same day, IOF opened fire at a vehicle in Kafr Qaddoum village in Qalqiliya, breaking the front and rear windows and causing damage to the front seat. The shooting was unjustified and came only moments after the vehicle had stopped and the driver had left with his family to their house.
On 10 March 2023, 3 Palestinians were shot with rubber bullets during IOF’s suppression of Kafr Qaddoum peaceful weekly protest in northern Qalqilya.
On 11 March 2023, IOF arrested a child after he sustained wounds and bruises in attacks carried out by IOF and settlers in Bab al-‘Amoud area in occupied East Jerusalem.
On the same day, a Palestinian was shot with a live bullet in his left foot during clashes with IOF at the entrance to Beit Ummar village in northern Hebron.
On 13 March 2023, journalist Mo’tasem Saqif al-Heit was hit with a stun grenade in his head after IOF targeted him while on duty covering the clashes that accompanied IOF’s incursion into Ni’lin village in western Ramallah.
On 15 March 2023, a Palestinian was injured with a live bullet in his thigh during clashes with IOF in Husan village, west of Bethlehem.
In the Gaza Strip, on 09 March 2023, four Palestinian fishermen were shot with rubber bullets after Israeli naval forces targeted their fishing boat off northwestern Beit Lahia Shore, northern Gaza Strip. (Details available in PCHR’s press release). Also, 6 IOF shootings were reported on agricultural lands in eastern Gaza Strip, and 3 shootings were reported on fishing boats off the Western Gaza shores.
”
So far in 2023, IOF attacks killed 83 Palestinians, including 41 civilians; 14 of them were children and one woman, and the rest were members of the Palestinian armed groups, including 2 children, as well as 6 killed by settlers, and one died in Israeli prisons. Meanwhile, 349 Palestinians, including 47 children, 2 women and 9 journalists, were injured.
Land razing, demolitions, and notices
IOF displaced 12 Palestinians, including 7 children and 3 women, after demolishing a house comprised of 2 apartments. Also, IOF demolished a commercial facility in occupied East Jerusalem.
On 14 March 2023, IOF demolished a house comprised of two 165-sqm residential apartments in Umm Tuba village in occupied East Jerusalem, under the pretext of unlicensed construction. As a result, 12 persons, including 7 children and 3 women, were displaced. During the demolition, IOF suppressed the house’s owners and press crews, forcing them to leave while IOF arrested the house owner’s brother after beating him.
On 13 March 2023, IOF demolished a commercial facility for construction materials that includes 3 rooms built of bricks, in Wadi Al-Joz neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, after confiscating the construction materials.
”
Since the beginning of 2023, IOF made 62 families homeless, a total of 395 persons, including 79 women and 178 children. This was the outcome of IOF demolition of 63 houses; 16 were forcibly self-demolished by their owners and 6 were demolished on grounds of collective punishment. IOF also demolished 56 other civilian objects, razed other property, and delivered dozens of notices of demolition and cease-construction in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Settler-attacks and retaliatory acts:
Israeli settlers carried out 6 attacks in the West Bank, where 3 Palestinians were injured, many trees were damaged, and livestock were stolen. Details are as follows:
On 11 March 2023, a Palestinian sustained wounds after being thrown with stones during a settlers’ attack on Palestinians’ vehicles passing through Kherbet Bani Haris Intersection leading to Ramallah.
On the same day, Israeli settlers, from “Halamish” settlement established on Ramallah lands, threw stones at Palestinian vehicles passing by the area. Also, settlers from “Dolev” settlement, threw stones at Palestinian vehicle traveling on ‘Ein Ayoub area near Ras Karkar village, west of Ramallah. However, no injuries were reported in both incidents.
On 15 March 2023, Israeli settlers sneaked into “Kawkab al-Sabah” settlement between Deir Jarir and Taybeh villages, east of Ramallah, where they stole about 25 livestock and a donkey and threw stones at the villagers. When the latter tried to confront the settlers, IOF intervened to protect the settlers and secured their withdrawal.
On the same day, Israeli settlers, from “Havat Maon” settlement outpost in eastern Yatta city, Hebron, cut 34 olive trees in eastern at-Tuwani village, which is 100 meters away from the outpost. When the villagers arrived at their lands, IOF’s patrols and police came and claimed that they will open an investigation into the incident, asking the the lands’ owners to file a complaint.
In the evening, two Palestinians sustained wounds and bruises after being assaulted by Israeli settlers while they were working in their agricultural lands in Qarawat Bani Hassan village, west of Salfit.
”
Since the beginning of the year, settlers have conducted at least 149 attacks against Palestinian civilians and their property. As a result, 5 Palestinians were killed, and dozens of others were injured; most of them after being beaten and thrown with stones. Also, dozens of houses, vehicles and civilian facilities were set ablaze.
IOF incursions and arrests of Palestinian civilians:
IOF carried out 198 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Those incursions included raids and searches of civilian houses and facilities and establishment of checkpoints. During those incursions, at least 86 Palestinians were arrested, including 10 children and 2 women. Also, IOF confiscated many vehicles while crossing through checkpoints.
”
So far in 2023, IOF conducted 2,174 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, during which 1060 Palestinians were arrested, including 20 women and 140 children. Also, IOF conducted 9 incursions and arrested 15 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip: 6 were fishermen, 8 were trying to infiltrate into Israel, and a traveler at Erez Crossing.
Israeli closure and restrictions on freedom of movement:
Israeli occupation maintains its illegal and inhuman 15-year closure on the Gaza Strip. Details available in PCHR’s monthly-update in the Gaza crossings.
In the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, IOF continues to impose restrictions on the freedom of movement. On top of its 110 permanent checkpoints, IOF established 119 temporary military checkpoints in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, and arrested 8 Palestinians at those checkpoints.
This week, IOF closed checkpoints in Jerusalem and Bethlehem several times and reopened them later.
”
So far in 2023, IOF established 1,326 temporary military checkpoints and arrested 60 Palestinians at those checkpoints.
Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestine (Weekly Update 02 – 08 March 2023)
Violation of right to life and bodily integrity:
7 Palestinians, including a child, were killed, and 32 were wounded, including 3 children and 3 others in serious condition, by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) fire while dozens of others suffocated in IOF attacks in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Details are as follows:
On 02 March 2023, Mohammad Nedal Saleem (15) was shot dead with a live bullet to the back while another child and a teenager were injured with live bullets fired by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) in front of a school in western ‘Azzun village, east of Qalqilya. IOF claimed that they chased a group of young men who threw Molotov cocktails at Street 55 where the settlers’ vehicles pass.
On 07 March 2023, 6 Palestinians were killed, and 26 others, mostly civilians, were wounded, including 3 in serious condition, during a widescale brutal military operation conducted by IOF in Jenin refugee camp. (Details available at PCHR’s press release).
Meanwhile, those injured were victims of excessive use of force that accompanied IOF incursions into cities and villages and suppression of peaceful protests organized by Palestinian civilians, and they were as follows:
On 03 March 2023, 2 Palestinians were injured during clashes with IOF after IOF’s suppression of Kafr Qaddoum weekly protest in northern Qalqilya.
On the same day, IOF suppressed a peaceful assembly in Silwan in East Jerusalem, where dozens of activists and residents of Silwan protested against IOF’s policy of demolishing, evacuating the homes, and displacing their residents. IOF fired stun grenades, tear gas canisters and rubber-coated bullets at the protestors and dispersed them by force; as a result, clashes broke out for several hours during which IOF arrested 5 Palestinians, including 3 children.
IOF also suppressed the weekly protest against the occupation and settlement activity in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, assaulted the protesters by pushing and beating them and spraying skunk water. IOF also arrested 8 International solidarity activists and a Palestinian activist.
On 04 March 2023, IOF arrested a child after wounding him with a live bullet in the foot, during IOF’s raid on agricultural lands near the entrance to Al-Fawwar refugee camp in Hebron, under the pretext of pursuing stone-throwers. IOF also arrested a child after he was shot with a live bullet in the right foot at the entrance to Al-‘Aroub refugee camp in Hebron.
In the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian sustained a mild injury due to the Israeli artillery shelling in eastern Khan Yunis on 08 March 2023. Moreover, 11 IOF shootings were reported on agricultural lands in eastern Gaza Strip, and 4 shootings were reported on fishing boats off the western Gaza shores.
”
So far in 2023, IOF attacks killed 73 Palestinians, including 36 civilians; 12 of them were children and a woman, and the rest were members of the Palestinian armed groups, including 2 children, as well as 5 killed by settlers, and one died in Israeli prisons. Meanwhile, 335 Palestinians, including 45 children, 2 women and 8 journalists, were injured.
Land razing, demolitions, confiscation, and settlement activity
IOF displaced 8 families of 68, including 12 women and 29 children, after demolishing 8 houses, a praying hall, a commercial facility, and agricultural rooms, as well as confiscating a bulldozer in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Details are as follows:
On 02 March 2023, IOF demolished a 120-sqm house in Ethna village in Hebron, displacing a family of 9, including 6 children, under the pretext of unlicensed construction in Area (C).
On 05 March 2023, IOF confiscated a bulldozer, and arrested its driver in the village of Jalboun, east of Jenin, under the pretext of working in Area (C). During the operation, IOF fired tear gas canisters at the citizens amidst clashes that caused suffocations.
On 06 March 2023, IOF demolished 4 tin-plated dwellings, east of Yatta in Hebron, under the pretext of unlicensed construction in Area (C), rending 4 families of 36, including 13 children and 4 women, homeless.
On the same day, IOF demolished three 280-sqm houses belonging to Totah family in Wadi Al-Joz neighbourhood in East Jerusalem, under the pretext of unlicensed construction, displacing 3 families of 23, including 7 women and 10 children.
On the same day as well, IOF demolished an under-construction praying hall and a tin=-plated commercial facility of tin in Bethlehem, under the pretext of unlicensed construction.
In addition, IOF demolished 3 agricultural rooms built of tin plates and uprooted dozens of trees while razing agricultural lands in al-‘Issawiya village in East Jerusalem, under the pretext of unlicensed construction. IOF also delivered 14 notices to cease construction works in 3 inhabited houses, 2 barrack and 9 agricultural rooms in Al-Zawiya village, west of Salfit, under the pretext of unlicensed construction in Area (C).
”
Since the beginning of 2023, IOF made 60 families homeless, a total of 383 persons, including 76 women and 171 children. This was the outcome of IOF demolition of 62 houses; 16 were forcibly self-demolished by their owners and 6 were demolished on grounds of collective punishment. IOF also demolished 55 other civilian objects, razed other property, and delivered dozens of notices of demolition and cease-construction in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Settler-attacks and retaliatory measures
Settlers carried out 4 attacks in the West Bank, where they uprooted olive trees and attacked Palestinians in the West Bank. Details are as follows:
On 06 March 2023, settlers uprooted about 80 olive trees in Yasuf village, east of Salfit.
On the same day, settlers, from “Yitzhar” settlement, which is established on Palestinian lands in Nablus, attacked and threw stones at the western outskirts of Huwara village, and assaulted a family inside their vehicle, breaking the windows and wounding the elderly driver. The settlement’s guard opened fire at the vehicle and sprayed pepper gas at the passengers.
On 08 March 2023, settlers, from “Otniel” settlement, which is established on the Palestinian lands confiscated from Hebron, raided an archeological hill in the village of Raboud, near the settlement, under the protection of IOF, and performed their rituals on the hill, denying the villagers’ access to their lands.
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Since the beginning of the year, settlers have conducted at least 143 attacks against Palestinian civilians and their property. As a result, 5 Palestinians were killed and dozens of others were injured; most of them after being beaten and thrown with stones. Also, dozens of houses, vehicles and civilian facilities were set ablaze.
IOF incursions and arrests of Palestinian civilians:
IOF carried out 211 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Those incursions included raids and searches of civilian houses and facilities and establishment of checkpoints. During those incursions, 83 Palestinians were arrested, including 11 children and 2 women.
In the Gaza Strip, IOF arrested 3 Palestinians; 2 of them, including a child, tried to infiltrate in eastern Rafah and eastern Beit Hanoun on 02 March 2023, while the third was arrested at Beit Hanoun “Erez” crossing, while accompanying his sick daughter-in-law in her travel for treatment. (Details available in PCHR’s press release). Also, IOF carried out limited incursions into eastern Juhr al-Dik, south of Gaza, and into eastern Khan Yunis on 02, 07 and 08 March 2023.
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So far in 2023, IOF conducted 1,976 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, during which 974 Palestinians were arrested, including 18 women and 130 children. Also, IOF conducted 8 incursions and arrested 15 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip: 6 were fishermen, 8 were trying to infiltrate into Israel, and a traveler at Erez Crossing,.
Israeli closure and restrictions on freedom of movement:
Israeli occupation maintains its illegal and inhuman 15-year closure on the Gaza Strip. Details available in PCHR’s monthly-update in the Gaza crossings.
The Israeli authorities announced the closure of the crossings with the Gaza Strip and the West Bank from the evening of 06 March 2023 until the evening of 08 March 2023 on the occasion of so-called “Purim” Jewish holiday.
In the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, IOF continue to impose restrictions on the freedom of movement. On top of its 110 permanent checkpoints, IOF established 133 temporary military checkpoints in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, and arrested 2 Palestinians at those checkpoints.
During this week, IOF closed checkpoints in Jerusalem and Bethlehem several times and reopened them later.
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So far in 2023, IOF established 1,207 temporary military checkpoints and arrested 52 Palestinians at those checkpoints.
A new bill repealing the disengagement law passed in 2005 has passed in Knesset’s first reading.
Saleh Abu Diab, a Palestinian resident of Sheikh Jarrah, takes part in a protest against his possible eviction after an Israeli court accepted Jewish settler land claims, in his neighborhood in Al-Quds on June 11, 2021 (Reuters).
Several EU member states, as well as the UK, denounced the Knesset’s approval of a bill that will allow Israeli settlers to return to areas across the West Bank that were previously evacuated as part of the 2005 Israeli-known Disengagement Law, which represented the liberation of Gaza and the partial liberation of the West Bank.
The Palestinian foreign ministry denounced the Knesset’s decision and called on the international community to denounce the bill as well, and to pressure the Israeli government to back down from the decision.
“Proceeding with steps to enact this legislation is a dangerous escalation in the conflict and a belittling of the efforts exerted to reduce tension and achieve calm,” the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said.
On Monday, a joint statement by the UK, France, and other EU countries, urged “Israel” to refrain from “demolishing Palestinian houses in the occupied West Bank and East-al-Quds [Al-Quds] during the month of Ramadan,” as they referenced the forced evacuation of Palestinian families from the Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah.
The statement noted that the signatories found it “very worrying that Israeli authorities intend to continue” the domicide of Palestinians and declared their “strong opposition to Israel’s settlement expansion policy.”
In February 2023, the Israeli occupation’s Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved a bill revoking clauses of the 2005 Disengagement Law, which had led to the dismantling of four illegal Israeli settlements in the northern West Bank, as well as all the settlements and military presence in the Gaza Strip.
At the time, The Times of “Israel” said that “the bill, which only relates to the parts of the law pertaining to the northern West Bank, is key to the current government’s goal of legalizing the illegal settlement outpost of Homesh.”
On Monday, the bill passed its first reading in the Knesset, and the introductory text of the repeal read: “There is no longer any justification to prevent Israelis from entering and staying in the evacuated territory in northern Samaria [West Bank], and therefore it is proposed to state that these sections [of the disengagement law] will no longer apply to the evacuated territory.”
Five settlers are injured during a shooting on “Dizengoff Stree” in “Tel Aviv”, and the executor is killed.
Medics at the scene of a shooting on ‘Dizengoff Street’ in ‘Tel Aviv’, occupied Palestine, March 9, 2023 (United Hatzalah)
By Al Mayadeen English
A Palestinian young man was killed Thursday after executing a shooting operation in “Tel Aviv”, wounding five illegal Israeli settlers, one of whom is in critical condition.
بعد تشييع شهداء #جنين.. انتفض الفارس.. خطط وتجهز. ومن ثم سار في طريقه، وصل إلى تل أبيب وتحديداً شارع ديزنغوف الشارع الأهم والأكثر تحصيناً داخل الكيان وهو يحمل سلاحه.. قائلاً لن نبكي.. سنثأر..
— حسن🇵🇸فِـلَسْـ𓂆ـطِين🇸🇾 (@Hasen58523668) March 9, 2023
The operation’s executor was killed after armed Israeli settlers fatally shot him on “Dizengoff Street” before the Israeli occupation forces cordoned off the scene.
The operation took place next to a cafe, and social media users swiftly shared footage from the scene right after the incident.
There are reports about there being a second executor, with Israeli media saying the police were looking for the other one.
“Two young men carried out the operation, and each one took a street before executing it,” Israeli media reported.
Footage also showed the sheer fear and panic experienced by Israeli settlers at the moment of carrying out the shooting on “Dizengoff Street” in downtown “Tel Aviv”, as well as the extensive deployment of the occupation police in the wake of the operation.
In the wake of the operation Israeli media reported that Israeli Security Minister Yoav Gallant directed the Israeli occupation forces to demolish the executor’s home and arrest his immediate family and close friends.
“A large number of Israeli soldiers raided the town of Ni’lin, west of Ramallah, where the home of the executor’s family.”
Palestinian factions laud operation
The Palestinian resistance factions lauded the operation, saying it underlined the “preparedness of the Palestinian people to swiftly and decisively respond to the occupation’s terrorism and aggression.”
It was revealed that the executor was Al-Moataz Bellah Al-Khawaja from Ramallah, and the Hamas resistance movement lauded the martyr and his “heroic operation” pledging that there was more to come.
Hamas said the “operation is a natural response to the assassination that took place in Jabaa and the massacre that took place in Jenin.”
“The shooting on Dizengoff Street in downtown Tel Aviv is a preliminary response to Israel’s crimes, the latest of which is the murder of three young men in Jabaa, Jenin,” Hamas spokesperson Abullatif Qanou said.
“The operation in Tel Aviv comes as a response to the Israeli occupation’s crimes against our people in the West Bank and Al-Quds,” Hamas official Daoud Shehab said.
The operation, he added, is a clear indication of what the situation can turn to because of the “war being waged by the fascist, extremist government on the West Bank and Al-Quds.”
“This heroic operation is a natural response to the assassination of Al-Quds brigades freedom fighters in Jabaa, Jenin, this morning,” Palestinian Islamic Jihad spokesperson for the West Bank, Tariq Ezzeddine, said.
Three Palestinian youths were martyred by the Israeli occupation forces on Thursday morning when their car was targeted in Jabaa, Jenin, following a campaign of raids and incursions across the West Bank and Al-Quds.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced the martyrdom of Sufian Al-Fakhouri, (30), Naif Ahmad Malaisha,(25), and Ahmed Mohamed Fashafsha, (22), after they were shot, by IOF, inside their vehicle, at the entrance to the town of Jaba.
Palestinian news agencies reported violent confrontations with the occupation forces during the storming of Jabaa in Jenin.
Special Coverage | The situation in occupied Palestine after the commando operation in Tel Aviv
ما حقيقة توتر العلاقات الأميركية الإسرائيلية؟ وماذا في تصريحات الحرب على إيران؟ | …
Three Palestinian civilians were shot dead: two by Israeli Occupation Forces and one by Israeli settlers. Also, a member of Palestinian armed groups succumbed to his pervious injury. Moreover, 16 Palestinians, including 3 children, a woman, and a journalist, were injured, while dozens of others suffocated in IOF attacks in eastern Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Details are as follows:
On 23 February 2023, Mohammed Nabil al-Sabbah (30), from Jenin refugee camp, died at An-Najah Hospiral in Nablus, succumbing to a live bullet injury in the abdomen. Al-Sabbah who was a member of Palestinian armed groups, was wounded on 12 February 2023 during IOF incursion into the camp.
On 24 February 2023, medical sources at al-Ahli Hospital in Hebron declared the death of Mohammed Isma’il Mohammed Jawabreh (21), a Palestinian police officer from Al-Arroub refugee camp, succumbing to a live bullet injury in the back of his head. IOF opened fire at him at around 14:00 a day before from a distance of 30 meters while He was with 3 persons on his house roof during clashes that broke out in the camp.
On 26 February 2023, Sameh al-Aqtash (37) was killed after being shot with a live bullet in his abdomen by Israeli settlers during a widescale attack on Za’tara village as part of a series of retaliatory attacks on southern Nablus’s villages. (Details available in PCHR’s press release).
On 01 March 2023, Mahmoud Jamal Hamdan (22) died few hours after being arrested and injured by IOF fire during the latter’s incursion into ‘Aqabat Jaber refugee camp in Jericho. Also, a Palestinian was shot and another was ran over in addition to 5 others arrested, including 3 brothers and son of one of the latter. According to PCHR’s investigations, an Israeli Special Force sneaked into ‘Aqabat Jaber refugee camp and cordoned off a house belonging to Shalloun family. Afterwards, Israeli backups arrived shooting and firing teargas canisters as well as threatening to bomb the house. Meanwhile, IOF opened fire at Mahmoud Hamdan while driving his motorcycle out of a nearby wood carpentry shop, wounding him with a live bullet in his abdomen. A Palestine Red Crescent Society medical crew arrived and tried to give him first aid, but IOF arrested him and took him to an unknown destination. Later in the evening, Hamdan’s death was announced. During their withdrawal from the camp, IOF detained a young man and his child and used them as human shields during their raid into the house. IOF also pulled a civilian Hyundai Tucson car to the middle of the street and broke its windows.
Meanwhile, those injured were victims of IOF excessive use of force during their incursions into the Palestinian cities and villages, or suppression of peaceful protests organized by Palestinian civilians, and they were as follows:
On 23 February 2023, a Palestinian was shot with a live bullet in his foot during clashes with IOF near a observation point established at the entrance to Beit Ummar village, north of Hebron.
On the same day, a woman was shot with a live bullet in her lower limbs by IOF at the entrance to “Ma’ale Adumim” settlement, which is established on occupied East Jerusalem’s lands, under the pretext that she tried to carry out a stabbing attack. IOF arrested the injured woman and took her to an Israeli hospital in West Jerusalem.
On 24 February 2023, two Palestinians, including a child, were shot with rubber-coated bullets, and others suffocated due to teargas inhalation during IOF’s suppression of Kafr Qaddoum weekly protest in northern Qalqilya.
On the same day, 4 Palestinians were directly hit with teargas canisters, and others suffocated due to teargas inhalation during clashes with IOF that accompanied the latter’s suppression of a peaceful protest near Bab al-Zawiyia in Hebron, where IOF established an observation point and a military checkpoint particularly at the entrance to al-Shuhada closed street. The peaceful protest was organized to commemorate the 29th anniversary of al-Ibrahimi Mosque massacre, which was committed by an Israeli settler at the time.
Also, two Palestinians, including a journalist, were directly hit with teargas canisters, and others suffocated due to teargas inhalation after IOF targeted dozens of protestors gathered ten meters away from the barbed wire fence in eastern Khuza’a village, east of Khan Yunis, against the IOF’s escalating violations in the West Bank.
On the same day, a 14-year-old child was hit with a teargas canister by IOF during the latter’s suppression of protestors gathered near the border fence, northeast of Jabalia. As a result, the child sustained brain laceration and was referred to al-Shifa Medical Complex, where his health condition was deemed critical.
On 26 February 2023, a Palestinian was hit with a live bullet in his foot in clashes with IOF during their incursion into Teqoa village in Bethlehem. Before withdrawing, IOF arrested a child after they raided his house.
On the same day, two Palestinians were shot with live and rubber bullets after IOF opened fire at persons for approaching the border fence, northeast of Jabalia refugee camp.
In the Gaza Strip, 8 IOF shootings were reported on agricultural lands in eastern Gaza Strip, and 4 shootings were reported on fishing boats off the Western Gaza shores.
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So far in 2023, IOF attacks have killed 66 Palestinians, including 35 civilians; 11 of them were children and a woman, while the rest were members of the Palestinian armed groups, including 2 children, 5 killed by settlers, and one died in Israeli prisons. Meanwhile, 302 Palestinians, including 42 children, 2 women, and 8 journalists, were injured.
Land razing, demolitions, and notices
IOF displaced 4 families of 20, including 12 children and 4 women, after demolishing 5 houses; 4 of them were self-demolished by their owners. Also, IOF demolished 11 facilities and confiscated two vehicles in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Details are as follows:
On 23 February 2023, IOF demolished 11 facilities, including commercial barracks and vegetable stalls, at the entrance to Jalamah village, north of Jenin.
On 25 February 2023, IOF confiscated a Burqin and Kafr ad-Dik municipal garbage truck, west of Salfit. They also detained the driver and two workers, threatening them not to put the garbage in that area again, under the pretext that the area is classified as Area “C”.
On the same day, IOF confiscated an excavator working in Qarawat Bani Hassan village lands, under the pretext of working in Area C.
On 26 February 2023, IOF forced a Palestinian to implement the Israeli occupation municipal order and self-demolish his 100-sqm house in Silwan village in occupied East Jerusalem, under the pretext of unlicensed construction, rendering a family of 8, including a woman and 6 children, homeless.
On 27 February 2023, IOF notified to demolish a 120-sqm house sheltering a family of 6, including 4 children, as well as a house concrete slab in eastern Yatta city in Hebron.
On 28 February 2023, IOF forced a Palestinian to self-demolish two small houses built on an area of 120 square meters in Beit Hanina village in occupied East Jerusalem, under the pretext of unlicensed construction. As a result, the Palestinian and his wife have become homeless.
On the same day, IOF forced a Palestinian to implement the Israeli occupation municipal order and self-demolish his 30-sqm house in Ras al-‘Amoud neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, under the pretext of unlicensed construction. As a result, a family of 5, including a woman and 3 children, was displaced.
Also, IOF demolished parts of a 120-sqm house in Jabel Mukaber village in occupied East Jerusalem, under the pretext of unlicensed construction. As a result, a family of 4, including a woman and 2 children, were displaced.
Moreover, IOF demolished the remaining parts of two under-construction houses belonging to 2 brothers in’ Issawiya village, northeast of occupied East Jerusalem, under the pretext of unlicensed construction. The owners of the two houses were forced to self-demolish their houses 2 weeks ago. Also, IOF handed them a fine of 100,00 shekels for demolition costs and for the Israeli municipality staff and vehicles.
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Since the beginning of 2023, IOF have made 52 families homeless, a total of 315 persons, including 64 women and 142 children. This was the outcome of IOF demolition of 54 houses; 16 were forcibly self-demolished by their owners and 6 were demolished on grounds of collective punishment. IOF also demolished 53 other civilian objects, razed other property, and delivered dozens of notices of demolition and cease-construction in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Settler-attacks and retaliatory acts:
A Palestinian was killed, and two others were injured by Israeli settlers’ fire in at least 100 attacks carried out by settlers under IOF’s protection. Most of those attacks mainly targeted Huwara village and Nablus’s southern villages, where Israeli settlers burned dozens of houses and vehicles, as part of retaliatory acts. Details are as follows:
On 23 February 2023, two Palestinians were injured: one with a live bullet in his abdomen and the other with a live bullet in his left thigh after Israeli settlers, from “Esh Kodesh” settlement outpost established on Nablus village’s lands, opened fire at them during their attack on the outskirts of Qusra village. The settlers also threw stones and opened fire at Palestinians and their houses at them.
On 25 February 2023, Israeli settlers, from “al-Ras” settlement outpost established on Salfit village’s lands, attacked a group of Palestinian farmers in the nearby lands and forced them to leave after opening fire in the air. The settlers also damaged a vehicle belonging to the farmers.
On 26 February 2023, hundreds of Israeli settlers conducted widescale violence and retaliatory acts under the protection of IOF in several villages in Nablus. As a result, a Palestinian was killed and another was wounded with bullets, while dozens of houses, facilities and vehicles were set ablaze. ( Details available in PCHR’s press release.)
On the same day, settlers set a poultry farm ablaze in Salfit, completely burning it and killing 2500 chicks. Also, the settlers set a vehicle ablaze at the entrance to Yasuf village, east of Salfit, and completely burned it.
Also, two Palestinians were beaten by Israeli settlers who threw stones at Palestinian vehicles and burned one of them in al-Mo’arajat area, north of Jericho.
On the same day, 3 Palestinians sustained bruises after Israeli settlers attacked their vehicles in the outskirts of Jibiya village, north of Ramallah. Also, Israeli settlers threw stones at Palestinian vehicles and houses in Sinjil and Al-Mughayyir villages and near Umm Safa village in Ramallah.
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Since the beginning of the year, settlers have conducted at least 139 attacks against Palestinian civilians and their property. As a result, 5 Palestinians were killed and dozens of others were injured; most of them after being beaten and thrown with stones/ Also, dozens of houses, vehicles and civilian facilities were set ablaze.
IOF incursions and arrests of Palestinian civilians:
IOF carried out 184 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Those incursions included raids and searches of civilian houses and facilities and establishment of checkpoints. During those incursions, at least 50 Palestinians were arrested, including 8 children. In the Gaza Strip, on 25 February 2023, IOF arrested 4 children while trying to infiltrate through the border fence adjacent to Um al-Nasser village and released them the next day. Also, IOF conducted 3 limited incursions in northern Beit Hanoun on 26 February 2033, in northeastern Jabalia on 28 February 2023, and in eastern Khan Yunis on 01 March 2023.
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So far in 2023, IOF conducted 1,765 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, during which 891 Palestinians were arrested, including 16 women and 119 children. Also, IOF arrested 12 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip; 6 were fishermen and 6 were trying to infiltrate into Israel. IOF also conducted 5 incursions.
Israeli closure and restrictions on freedom of movement:
Israeli occupation maintains its illegal and inhuman 15-year closure on the Gaza Strip. Details available in PCHR’s monthly-update in the Gaza crossings.
In the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, IOF continue to impose restrictions on the freedom of movement. On top of its110 permanent checkpoints, IOF established 126 temporary military checkpoints in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, and arrested 2 Palestinians at those checkpoints.
Since 26 February 2023, IOF have imposed a cordon on Huwara village in Nablus, place cement cubes on the main street, impede the movement of individuals and vehicles, and prevent the shops’ owners from opening. This cordon is part of the collective punishment measures following the killing of 2 settlers in a shooting attack near the village.
Since 27 February 2023, IOF have imposed a tight cordon on Jericho following the killing of an Israeli settler in a shooting attack near the city. IOF closed all checkpoints, main and sub-streets leading to the city and established more military checkpoints, impeding the movement of individuals and vehicles and searching them.
This week, IOF closed military checkpoints in Jerusalem and Bethlehem several times and reopened them later.
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So far in 2023, IOF established 1074 temporary military checkpoints and arrested 50 Palestinians at those checkpoints.
The most right-wing government in Israel’s history is committed to advancing the Judaization of Jerusalem, including demolishing the Al-Aqsa Mosque and diminishing the Arab demographic in Al-Quds.
Jerusalem has been a sticking point in attempts to find a political solution between Palestinians and their occupiers ever since the onset of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Yet, the situation involving the Holy City and its Al-Aqsa Mosque has reached a critical turning point since the recent ascension of ultra-right-wing Zionist parties to power in Israel.
On 3 January, Itamar Ben Gvir, the head of the Otzma Yehudit party, fulfilled his election promises by storming the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque under official Israeli security cover. In doing so, the extremist minister of national security became the first official figure to take such a step since former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s similar action in 2000, which triggered the Second Intifada (also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada).
Storming Al-Aqsa, a calculated move
Many political analysts agree that Ben Gvir’s storming of the mosque – which was coordinated by the Israeli police and General Security Agency (Shin Bet), and with the prior knowledge of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – signals the new government’s policy towards the city of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa.
They say that the most right-wing and extreme government in the history of Israel is in the process of strengthening illegal settlements and changing the historical status of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Analyst Ayman al-Rafati tells The Cradle that the storming of the mosque’s courtyard, as well as the prevention of Jordanian Ambassador Ghassan al-Majali from entering the mosque in mid-January, have two implications:
“The first is an attempt to break psychological deterrence that was established after the Battle of Sayf al-Quds (Sword of Jerusalem) in 2021, which erupted due to practices like this; The second is to reduce the margin of Jordanian guardianship over Al-Aqsa.”
The occupation authorities also seek to replicate the Ibrahimi Mosque experience in the West-Bank city of Hebron (Al-Khalil) by dividing Al-Aqsa in time and space between Muslims and Jews.
Israel hopes that the storming of the mosque will pass over without any significant backlash from the occupied-West Bank and Jerusalem, from the resistance fighters of Gaza, or from the Israeli left and center parties who raise concerns about its potential impact on state security and stability.
However, the actions of Ben Gvir and the Israeli police, while dangerous, do not align with the aspirations of the Jewish Temple group extremists who seek to build a structure on the ruins of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Judaizing Al-Aqsa
On the day Ben Gvir assumed office as minister of national security, Aviad Fisoli, the attorney for the new Sanhedrin council (the central rabbinical institution of extremist Temple settler groups) sent a letter to the Israeli police commissioner in Jerusalem requesting an audience with the minister to inform him of their demands and to determine the level of support they could expect from the government and police.
The letter stipulated 11 demands, all of which would lead to the division of Al-Aqsa Mosque. These include:
Extending the hours in which the extremists could storm the mosque;
Allowing them to perform prayers and religious rituals inside the mosque;
Opening the mosque to raids throughout the week; Allowing “sacred tools” into the mosque, including Torah scrolls, the Ark of the Covenant, trumpets, and plant and animal offerings;
Establishing a Jewish synagogue inside Al-Aqsa Mosque;
Ending police escorting of extremists;
Allowing storming from all doors, not just the Mughrabi Gate controlled by the occupation authorities since 1967;
Not barring the mosque from intruders during Islamic events;
Declaring “equal rights” for all religions at Al-Aqsa;
Cancelling the policy of ejecting Jews from the mosque;
Opening the door of the synagogue in the historical Tanziah school – which overlooks the Al-Aqsa grounds – and is currently controlled by the Israeli Ministry of Security, to all Jews.
The “Returning to the Temple Mount” movement, led by an extremist Jewish settler named Raphael Morris, sent a message to Ben Gvir in early January, asking for his help in facilitating the slaughter of the “Passover offering” in the courtyards of the mosque.
In their letter, the group stated that the formation of a real right-wing government “is a golden opportunity to return the crown to its former glory and to renew the Passover sacrifice for the first time in about two thousand years.” They believe that this act “will be recorded in the pages of history as the beginning of the building of the third Temple.”
‘Development:’ a pretext for demographic engineering
On the ground in Jerusalem, the settlers’ ambitions are being matched by ongoing state-sponsored excavations and the construction of roads and bridges. Mahmoud Abu Arqoub, a Palestinian guard stationed at Al-Aqsa Mosque, reveals to The Cradle that the Israeli police are preventing Jerusalemites and “Mourabitoun” (guards tasked with protecting Islamic holy sites from hostile non-believers) from restoring the dilapidated parts of the mosque.
Meanwhile, multiple projects are being implemented to accommodate the increasing number of settlers who storm the mosque.
According to the Palestine Information Center “Maata,” last year, around 55,000 settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque, compared to 34,000 in 2021. Abu Arqoub also noted that in 2022, the Israeli government initiated a project to expand the wooden Mughrabi Bridge that connects Mughrabi Gate to Al-Buraq Square, which is used by settlers and “tourists” to enter the mosque courtyards.
Adnan al-Husseini, the head of the Jerusalem Affairs Department in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), believes that the bridge expansion project aims to increase the number of settler intrusions and paves the way for the implementation of a large settlement project by facilitating access for motorized vehicles.
Abu Arqoub predicts that “major unrest may break out in the month of Ramadan (next March) around the Damascus Gate. The occupation is imposing more restrictions on this region in preparation for its Judaization and annexation.”
Under the guise of developing the transportation network, the Israelis are racing against time to seize more land from Jerusalemites. In mid-January, the local planning and construction committee in the Jerusalem municipality approved plans to build a light-rail transit track connecting east and west Jerusalem.
They claim that the project is part of the “modern transportation revolution in Jerusalem to ease traffic congestion.” However, Jerusalemite researcher Nevine Najeeb posits that the track, set to be completed in 2028, will provide an excuse for the occupation municipality to seize more land and properties belonging to Jerusalemites. As Najeeb explains to The Cradle:
“In the future, the occupation municipality will demand the demolition of homes that Jerusalemites have owned for hundreds of years because they stand in the way of the train, or to strengthen security measures around its track. This scenario was previously implemented by the occupation in the town of Shuafat nine years ago, when dozens were forced to leave their homes under the same pretext.”
In parallel, the occupation authorities and temple groups continue to excavate tunnels beneath the Al-Aqsa Mosque. On 10 January, sources in Jerusalem revealed the discovery of a new tunnel that penetrates the wall of the Old City, four meters wide, extending from the town of Silwan to a point near the Mughrabi Gate.
“The goal of the tunnels is to provide conditions for the demolition of Al-Aqsa Mosque as a result of natural factors, such as an earthquake, in order to avoid a comprehensive confrontation with the occupying power,” Najeeb explains.
‘Strangers in Jerusalem’
The most dangerous Israeli development, however, is the implementation of the “Greater Jerusalem” plan, which seeks to change the demographic balance in the Holy City in favor of the Jewish population, as revealed by the Applied Research Institute in Jerusalem (ARIJ).
In a report published in late 2022, the institute indicated that Israel had begun adding four large settlement blocs – Givat Ze’ev, Ma’aleh Adumim, Gush Etzion, and Psagot – to Jerusalem. This move is expected to decrease the percentage of Palestinians in the city’s population from 37 percent to 21 percent.
In a press release, ARIJ director Jad Isaac stated that in 2022, the Israeli government approved several settlement projects, including the construction of 4,900 settlement units in Jerusalem, 9,000 units in the Atarot area north of the city, and the “Silicon Valley” settlement project spanning over 710,000 square meters in the Wadi al-Jouz neighborhood.
Additionally, there are plans to transform the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and Silwan town into mixed neighborhoods by increasing the number of settlers residing there and issuing orders to evict Palestinians or demolish their homes.
In 2022, ARIJ documented 138 cases of house demolitions and 273 settler encroachments on the lands of Jerusalemites. Furthermore, the Israeli occupation authorities initiated the “Land Settlement and Registration” project to seize more property, which may result in 80 percent of the land being registered as “absentee property,” making Palestinians “strangers in Jerusalem,” as noted by Isaac.
The existential threat to Al-Quds
Palestinians in the city are facing systematic alienation, with the occupation authorities attempting to prevent Palestinian schools from teaching the Palestinian curriculum. Last year, two schools had their licenses revoked under the pretext of teaching curricula that allegedly included “incitement against the Israeli state and army.”
Approximately 45,500 students in Jerusalem, attending 146 schools affiliated with the Palestinian education system, are at risk of being forced to study the Israeli curriculum, according to the Faisal Husseini Foundation.
Since the occupation of Jerusalem in 1967, all Israeli governments, both right and left, have pursued projects to Judaize the city. However, the current Israeli government, described by Israelis themselves as the most right-wing in Israel’s history, poses a greater threat to the city.
There is an unprecedented opportunity for right-wing groups to Judaize the city and demolish the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Such a step is likely to ignite another conflict that may escalate into a major regional war, as leaders of resistance movements in Palestine, Lebanon, and elsewhere have repeatedly warned.
The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of The Cradle.
Though Israel’s past wars on Gaza have often been justified by Tel Aviv as a response to Palestinian rockets or, generally, as acts of self-defense, the truth is different. Historically, Israel’s relationship with Gaza has been defined by Tel Aviv’s need to create distractions from its own fractious politics, to flex its muscles against its regional enemies and to test its new weapons technology.
Though the Occupied West Bank – in fact, other Arab countries, too – has been used as a testing ground for Israel’s war machine, no other place has allowed Israel to sustain its weapon experimentation for as long as Gaza, making Israel, as of 2022, the world’s tenth largest weapons exporter.
There is a reason why Gaza is ideal for such grand, albeit tragic, experiments.
Gaza is a perfect place for gathering information once new weapons have been deployed and used on the battlefield. The Strip is home to two million Palestinians who live squalid lives with virtually no clean water and little food, all of them confined within 365 km² (approx. 181 mi²). In fact, due to Israel’s so-called safety belts, much of Gaza’s arable lands which border Israel are off limits. Farmers are often shot by Israeli snipers, almost at the same frequency as Gaza’s fishermen are also targeted, should they dare venture beyond the three nautical miles allocated to them by the Israeli navy.
“The Lab,” an Israeli award-winning documentary released in 2013, discussed in painful detail how Israel has turned millions of Palestinians into actual human laboratories for testing new weapons. Gaza, even before, but especially since then, has been the main testing ground for these weapons.
POLITICIANS’ PLAYTHING
Gaza has been ‘the lab’ for Israeli political experimentations as well.
When, from December 2008 to January 2009, then Israel’s Acting Prime Minister Tzipi Livni decided to, in her own words, “go wild” by unleashing one of the deadliest wars on Gaza, the Israeli politician was hoping that her military adventure would help solidify support for her party at the Knesset.
Livni, at the time, was the head of Kadima, which was established in 2005 by the former leader of the Likud, Ariel Sharon. As Sharon’s successor, Livni wanted to prove her own worth as a strong politician capable of teaching Palestinians a lesson.
Though her experiment then won her some support in the February 2009 elections, it backfired badly following the November 2012 war, where Kadima was nearly destroyed in the January 2013 elections. Eventually, Kadima vanished altogether from Israel’s political map.
This was not the first, nor the last, time that Israeli politicians have attempted to use Gaza as a way to distract from their own political woes, or to demonstrate, through killing Palestinians, their qualifications as protectors of Israel.
BIBI’S BOMBS
Yet, no one has perfected the use of violence to score political points as much as Israel’s current Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Returning as the head of Israel’s most extremist government in history, Netanyahu is keen to stay in power, especially since his rightwing coalition has more comfortable support margins in the Knesset than any of Israel’s five governments in the last three years.
With a rightwing, pro-war constituency that is far more interested in illegal settlement expansion and ‘security’ than economic growth or socio-economic equality, Netanyahu should, at least technically, be in a stronger position to launch another war on Gaza. But why is he hesitating?
On February 1, a Palestinian group fired a rocket toward southern Israel, prompting an Israeli response that was intentionally limited.
According to Palestinian groups in the besieged Strip, the rocket was fired as part of the ongoing armed rebellion by West Bank Palestinians. It was meant to illustrate the political unity between Gaza, Jerusalem and the West Bank.
The West Bank is living its darkest days. 35 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli army in January alone, ten of whom perished in Jenin in a single Israeli raid. A Palestinian, acting alone, responded by killing seven Jewish settlers in Occupied East Jerusalem, the perfect spark of what is usually a massive Israeli response.
But that response has been confined, thus far, to the demolition of homes, arrest and torture of the attacker’s family members, military sieges on various Palestinian towns and hundreds of individual assaults by Jewish settlers on Palestinians.
BULLETS, BUDDIES AND “BAD GUYS”
An all-out Israeli war, especially in Gaza, has not yet actualized. But why?
First, the political risks of attacking Gaza through a long war, for now, outweigh the benefits. Though Netanyahu’s coalition is relatively secure, the expectations of the Prime Minister’s extremist allies are very high. A war with an indecisive outcome could be considered a victory for Palestinians, a notion that could alone break down the coalition. Though Netanyahu could launch war as a last resort, he has no need for such a risky option at the moment.
Second, the Palestinian Resistance is stronger than ever. On January 26, Hamas declared that it has used surface-to-air missiles to repel an Israeli air raid on Gaza. Though the Gaza group’s military arsenal is largely rudimentary, much of it homemade, it is far more advanced and sophisticated compared to weapons used during Israel’s so-called “Operation Cast Lead” in 2008.
Finally, Israel’s munition reserve must be at its lowest point in a long time. Now that the US, Israel’s largest weapons supplier, has tapped into its strategic weapons reserve – due to the Russia-Ukraine war – Washington will not be able to replenish the Israeli arsenal with constant supplies of munition the same way the Obama Administration did during the 2014 war. Even more alarming for the Israeli military, the New York Times revealed in January that “the Pentagon is tapping into a vast but little-known stockpile of American ammunition in Israel to help meet Ukraine’s dire need for artillery shells …”.
Though Israeli wars on Gaza are much riskier nowadays compared to the past, a cornered and embattled Netanyahu can still resort to such a scenario if he feels that his leadership is in peril. Indeed, the Israeli leader did so in May 2021. Even then, he still could not save himself or his government from a humiliating defeat.
UPROOTED PALESTINIANS: SALAM ALQUDS ALAYKUM 