Protection of Civilians Report | 18 - 31 October 2016

03 Nov 2016

The two-week reporting period recorded four Palestinian attacks and alleged attacks against Israelis, which resulted in the killing of three Palestinian perpetrators and alleged perpetrators, including a 19-year-old Palestinian female by Israeli forces, and the injury of six Israeli soldiers. The attacks included one ramming in Beit Ummar (Hebron); one shooting at Beit El/DCO checkpoint (Ramallah) carried out by a member of the Palestinian Police acting on his own; and an alleged stabbing attack at Za’tara checkpoint (Nablus). Another Palestinian man was shot and injured during an attempted ramming and stabbing attack at a flying checkpoint near Ramallah, which resulted in no Israeli injuries.
Israeli forces shot and killed a 15-year-old Palestinian boy and injured another 41 Palestinians, including 13 children and three women, in clashes across the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). Four of the injuries occurred during clashes next to the perimeter fence separating Gaza from Israel. The rest of the injuries (37) were recorded in the West Bank, in the context of clashes that erupted during search and arrest operations; weekly demonstrations in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya) and Ni’lin villages (Ramallah); and a protest against a power cut in Al Jiftlik town (Jericho). Two Israeli soldiers were injured due to Molotov and stone-throwing by Palestinians.
On 20 October, one Palestinian man (23-years-old) died of injuries sustained in January 2007, when he was 14-years-old, after being shot with live ammunition during an Israeli military operation in Ramallah city. Since then, the man had been hospitalized most of the time and continued to suffer deteriorating health conditions.
Israeli forces conducted 196 search and arrest operations and arrested 234 Palestinians in the West Bank. The Jerusalem governorate accounted for the highest portion of arrests (97) and operations (56), including the raiding of a secondary boy’s school in East Jerusalem. Also, in Jerusalem, the Israeli police banned 15 Palestinians from entering the Al Aqsa Mosque for periods ranging between three months and two weeks.
In the Gaza Strip, on seven occasions, Israeli forces entered Gaza and carried out land-levelling and excavation operations in the vicinity of the perimeter fence. In one incident, the Israeli air force fired a missile towards an observation post, reportedly belonging to an armed group, and damaged it. The incident followed the firing of a missile from Gaza into southern Israel, which caused no injuries or damage.
Following incidents of stone-throwing at Israeli settler vehicles, Israeli forces closed the main entrances to three villages in the Ramallah governorate (Deir Nidham, Umm Saffa and Silwad) and one neighborhood in East Jerusalem (Jabal Al Mukabbir). The closures remained in place by the end of the reporting period, disrupting the access of people to services and livelihoods. Additionally, following the above-mentioned shooting attack at the Beit El/DCO checkpoint, the military closed the checkpoint, which controls the main route into Ramallah city from the east.
At least 23 incidents involving Israeli forces’ opening of warning fire into the Access Restricted Areas (ARA) at land and sea in the Gaza Strip were recorded, resulting in no injuries. Two fishermen including a 17-year-old boy, were forced to take off their clothes and swim to Israeli naval boats, where they were detained and their boat and fishing nets seized. Also, one Palestinian merchant was reportedly arrested by Israeli forces at Erez crossing.
Citing the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or confiscated 18 structures in six Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem and Area C, displacing 54 people, including 29 children and affecting the livelihoods of more than 46 others. Eight of the targeted structures, including residential shelters, latrines and a water cistern, had been provided as humanitarian assistance in response to previous demolitions. This brings the total number of assistance items destroyed or confiscated since the beginning of 2016 to 273, up more than 150 per cent compared to all of 2015. Israeli forces, along with the Israel Antiquities Authority, also damaged construction materials in a cemetery near the Old City of Jerusalem, on grounds of being used to build gravestones without permits.
On five separate occasions, Israeli forces conducted military training exercises in the northern Jordan Valley, in the vicinity of three herding communities (Humsa al Bqai’a, Tell al Khashabeh and Lifjim). While these incidents resulted in no displacement, damage to structures and access restrictions to grazing areas were reported, affecting 15 families.
Four Israeli settler attacks leading to Palestinian injuries or property damage were recorded, including: the physical assault and injury of a 6 year-old Palestinian boy in Silwan (East Jerusalem); the vandalising of 18 trees in Nahhalin (Bethlehem); the stoning and damaging of a vehicle in Bethlehem; and the stealing of a mule used during olive picking in Deir Ammar (Ramallah). Additionally, Israeli settlers blocked the main entrance of the Tell al Himma herding community, in the northern Jordan Valley, which recently sustained a large demolition.
According to Israeli media reports, four Israelis were injured, including three children, and damage to several Israeli-plated vehicles was reported, as a result of stone-throwing by Palestinians in the Hebron and Bethlehem governorates. Additionally, the light train segment running in Shu’fat (East Jerusalem) sustained damage as a result of stone-throwing by Palestinians.
Clashes between Palestinian security forces and Palestinian civilians were reported in Balata refugee camp (Nablus), resulting in the injury of eight men and one infant due to tear gas inhalation. The clashes erupted over the course of search and arrest operations by Palestinian security forces in the refugee camp.
The Egyptian-controlled Rafah Crossing was exceptionally open for five days (19-23 October) in both directions; 3,176 Palestinians reportedly exited Gaza to Egypt and 821 entered. Approximately 20,000 people are registered and waiting to exit Gaza via Rafah, according to the Palestinian authorities in Gaza.