Protection of Civilians Report | 25 July – 7 August 2023

Latest Developments (after the reporting period)

This section is based on initial information from different sources. Further confirmed details will be provided in the next report.

• On 10 August, undercover Israeli forces raided Zawata (Nablus), and an exchange of fire with Palestinians ensued, killing a 23-year-old Palestinian man.

Highlights from the reporting period

• During four attacks or attempted or alleged attacks by Palestinians in the West Bank and Israel, one Israeli policeman was killed, and eight Israelis injured. During these four incidents, six Palestinians, including one child, were killed and two were injured.  On 25 July, Israeli forces shot dead three Palestinian men near the gate of Mount Gerizim in Nablus city following an exchange of fire; the three men had opened fire on soldiers from a vehicle. There were no reported injuries or fatalities among the Israeli forces. On 1 August, a Palestinian shot and injured six Israelis in the settlement of Ma’ale Adummim (Jerusalem) before being killed by an off-duty Israeli police officer. Following the incident, Israeli forces conducted a search-and-arrest operation in nearby Al 'Eizariya (Jerusalem), where the perpetrator lived, and arrested his two brothers. On the same day, 1 August, Israeli forces fatally shot a 15-year-old Palestinian child on road 317 near the Israeli settlement of Shim’a, adjacent to the town of As Samu’ (Hebron). According to Israeli sources, the boy attempted to stab two Israeli soldiers while waiting at a bus stop close to the settlement before an Israeli soldier shot him. On 5 August, a Palestinian man from the West Bank shot and killed an Israeli patrolman and injured another two persons in Tel Aviv before being shot and killed on the scene. Subsequently, Israeli forces raided Rummana (Jenin), where the perpetrator came from, and took measurements of his family home, reportedly in preparation of its punitive demolition. As of the end of the reporting period, Israeli authorities withheld the bodies of the six Palestinians, including the child. 
• Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians, including two children, in three separate operations which involved exchange of fire. On 26 July, Israeli forces surrounded a residential building in Ein Beit el Mai Refugee Camp in Nablus and arrested one Palestinian man. An exchange of fire with Palestinians was reported. One Palestinian man was killed and two others, including one woman, were injured during the incident. On 4 August, Israeli forces carried out a military operation in Tulkarm and its refugee camp; Israeli forces fired live ammunition at Palestinians who reportedly threw Molotov cocktails at them. During the clashes, Israeli forces shot and killed a 17-year-old Palestinian child and injured two other Palestinians. On 6 August, an undercover unit of the Israeli forces shot and killed three Palestinians, including a 15-year-old child, while they were inside their vehicle near ‘Arraba (Jenin). According to the Israeli military, the three were intending to imminently carry out an armed attack against Israelis. The bodies of those killed remain withheld as of the end of the reporting period. On 7 August, a 17-year-old Palestinian child died of wounds he had sustained after an Israeli settlement guard shot him with live ammunition on 2 August, near Silwad village (Ramallah). According to Israeli sources, the Palestinian boy had thrown a Molotov cocktail at the Israeli settlement of Ofra before being injured by live fire from the settlement guard. The number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank and Israel by Israeli forces so far in 2023 (167) surpassed the total number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in all of 2022 (155), which already saw the highest fatalities in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since 2005.
• An Israeli settler shot and killed a Palestinian man and injured two others during a settler attack in Burqa village (Ramallah). On 4 August, armed Israeli settlers trespassed into Burqa (Ramallah) with their sheep. Palestinians threw stones at them, and the settlers threw stones and fired live ammunition, resulting in the killing of one Palestinian and the injury of others. Israeli forces arrived at the scene, and reportedly arrested two settlers, including one who was subsequently placed under house arrest. According to Israeli media, one of the arrested settlers was injured. Since the beginning of 2023, until 7 August, Israeli settlers killed seven Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem; three of the fatalities were perpetrators or alleged perpetrators of attacks against Israelis.
• One Palestinian child died in an Israeli search-and-arrest operation in Qalqilya. On 27 July, a 13-year-old Palestinian child died from wounds sustained when he mistakenly detonated an improvised explosive device. 
• During the reporting period, 276 Palestinians, including at least 60 children, were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank, including nine people by live ammunition. Ninety-nine (99) injuries were reported in demonstrations against settlement expansion in Deir Istiya (Salfit) and access restrictions caused by the settlement in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqilya). An additional 21 injuries occurred during 13 search-and-arrest and other operations carried out by Israeli forces across the West Bank. In three additional incidents, Israeli forces injured 118 Palestinians in Nablus and Hebron. These followed the trespassing of Israeli settlers, accompanied by Israeli forces, into Asira al Qibliya village (Nablus), and the entry into Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus city and the Tomb of Othniel in the Palestinian controlled area of Hebron city. In the incident in Asira al Qibliya village, Israeli settlers set fire to agricultural land, resulting in damage to Palestinian property. Palestinian residents threw stones and Israeli forces fired live ammunition and teargas canisters. During the incident in Nablus city, an exchange of fire took place between Palestinians and Israeli forces. During the incident, Israeli forces reportedly impeded Palestinian access to the eastern part of the city, by digging up the road and creating earth mounds. In the incident in Hebron city, Palestinians threw stones and Israeli forces shot rubber bullets and teargas canisters. Twenty-five additional injuries were reported during two demolition incidents in Beita (Nablus) and Al Mughayyir (Ramallah). The remaining 13 Palestinian injuries occurred as Palestinians threw stones at Israeli forces positioned at the entrance of Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Tuqu’ (Bethlehem). Overall, 242 Palestinians were treated for teargas inhalation, nine were shot with live ammunition, 15 were injured by rubber bullets, two with shrapnel, six were injured by sound grenades or teargas canisters, and two were physically assaulted. Since the beginning of the year a total of 683 Palestinians were injured with live ammunition by Israeli forces in the West Bank, which is more than double the equivalent period in 2022 (307). 
• Six Palestinians, including one child, were injured by Israeli settlers; and people known or believed to be settlers damaged Palestinian property in another 14 instances across the West Bank. This is in addition to the Palestinian casualties by Israeli settlers and forces in the abovementioned settler-related incidents. On 27 July, settlers, reportedly from Sdeh Boaz, physically assaulted a Palestinian man while he was working on his land near Al Khadr village (Bethlehem) and unleashed their dogs, which bit him. On the same day, on 27 July, a Palestinian man was physically assaulted and injured as Israeli settlers, accompanied by Israeli forces, threw stones, physically assaulted residents of Asira al Qibliya (Nablus), and set fire to agricultural land and vehicles. On 27 July, thousands of Israelis, including settlers, marched through the Old City, chanting anti-Palestinian slogans, harassing residents, and physically assaulting and injuring an elderly Palestinian man. This incident occurred following the visit of the Israeli Minister of National Security into the vicinity of Al Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem, accompanied by Knesset members and thousands of Israelis. On 28 July, a Palestinian man was injured when Israeli settlers threw stones at his vehicle near Al Mughayyir village (Ramallah). On 4 August, a Palestinian child was run over and injured by an Israeli settler in the H2 area of Hebron city. On the same day, one Palestinian was killed by live ammunition (see above) and another injured by shrapnel as Israeli settlers trespassed into the Palestinian village of Burqa (Ramallah). Palestinian residents and settlers threw stones at each other, and settlers fired live ammunition. Six incidents in Umm ad Daraj (Hebron), Azzun (Qalqiliya), Burin (Nablus), Silat adh Dhahr (Jenin), Sarta (Salfit) and Ein al Hilwa (Tubas), included settlers entering communities and causing damage to a livelihood structure, an animal shelter, cultivated crops and two homes, while allegedly stealing livestock and water tanks, in addition to injuring livestock. In another six incidents reported across the West Bank, Israeli settlers threw stones and vandalized nine Palestinian vehicles.
• Nine Israelis, including one woman, were injured by Palestinians in four separate incidents across the West Bank and Israel. On 1 August, a Palestinian man opened fire inside the Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adummim and injured six Israeli settlers, before he was shot and killed by an off-duty Israeli police officer (see above). On 2 August, one Israeli woman was injured, and her car sustained damages, after a perpetrator believed to be Palestinian exited his vehicle and shot at the Israeli-plated vehicle near the Al Hamra checkpoint (Tubas). On 5 August, a Palestinian man from the West Bank shot and killed an Israeli patrolman and injured two Israelis in Tel Aviv before being shot and killed on the scene. In another two incidents, on 6 and 7 August, Palestinians threw stones at Israeli plated vehicles near Beit El settlement (Ramallah) and in Al ‘Isawiya (East Jerusalem) resulting in the injury of one Israeli and damage to two vehicles, according to Israeli sources. 
• The Israeli authorities demolished, confiscated, or forced people to demolish 56 structures in East Jerusalem and Area C of the West Bank, including six homes, citing the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, which are almost impossible to obtain. As a result, 23 Palestinians, including 12 children, were displaced, and the livelihoods of more than 3,500 others were affected. Six of the affected structures were provided by donors in response to a previous demolition in Az Za’ayyem Bedouin community in the Jerusalem governorate, during which a total of 35 structures were demolished in a single incident. Fifty-three (53) of the affected structures were demolished in Area C, including the infrastructure of a public park serving the community of Al Mughayyir (Ramallah). The remaining three structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, resulting in the displacement of four households, comprising 16 people, including seven children. All of the demolished structures in East Jerusalem were destroyed by their owners to avoid the payment of fines to the Israeli authorities. 
• The remaining families of Al Baqa’a and Ras at Tin herding communities in the Ramallah governorate left their community, citing settler violence and loss of access to grazing land. On 28 July, following the establishment of an Israeli settlement in the Palestinian community of Al Baqa’a (Jerusalem) on 20 June, one of the two remaining Palestinian households, comprising eight people, including five children and a pregnant woman, left the community. This follows a similar move by 36 people from the same community, who, earlier in July, dismantled their homes and livelihood structures, moving to a safer place. On 4 August, 12 households in Ras al Tin (Ramallah) comprising 89 people, including 39 children, dismantled their residential and livelihood structures and left their communities and relocated to safer places. According to the families, they left after increased settler violence and harassment following the establishment of new farming settlement outposts. Settlers took over grazing land belonging to the community and planted vineyards, reducing the grazing area necessary for Palestinian herders to sustain their livelihoods. In 2022, 100 members of the same community were displaced in similar circumstances. About 477 people, including 261 children, left from Ras al Tin, Wadi as Seeq, Ein Samiya, and Al Baqa’a (all in the Ramallah governorate), Lifjim (Nablus) and Wedadie and Khirbet Bir al ‘Idd (both southern Hebron) between 2022 and 2023, citing settler violence and loss of access to grazing land as the primary reasons. As a result, three out of these seven communities have been entirely emptied, while only a few families remain in the others.
• In the Gaza Strip, in at least 14 incidents, Israeli forces opened “warning fire” near Israel’s perimeter fence or off the coast. These incidents disrupted the work of farmers and fishermen. One fisherman was injured, and two boats sustained damages. 
• On 4 August, a 16-year-old Palestinian child was injured when an unexploded ordnance detonated while he was tampering with it in Deir Al Balah.
• On 30 July and 4 August, thousands of Palestinians protested power cuts and the worsening economic situation in the Gaza Strip, leading to protests. Demonstrators threw stones at Palestinian police and set tires on fire; 12 injuries were reported and at least 23 people were arrested by the de-facto authorities in Gaza. On 1 August, the Gaza Power Plant turned on its fourth turbine after the Qatar Government delivered additional fuel. The electricity plant is currently operating at full capacity, with an increased production from 65 to 100 megawatts. In July, daily power cuts exceeded 12 hours on average, due to the seasonal increase in demand. This severely disrupted daily life and the provision of health and WASH services. According to the Health Cluster, Kamal Odwan hospital had transferred its medical cases to another facility, after its backup power generators failed.

Footnotes

1 Palestinians killed or injured by people who are not members of Israeli forces, e.g., by Israeli civilians or with Palestinian rockets falling short, as well as those whose immediate cause of death or the perpetrator’s identity remain disputed, unclear, or unknown, are counted separately. In this reporting period, one Palestinian killed by an Israeli settler is counted separately.

2 Israeli casualties in these charts include people who were injured while running to shelters during Palestinian rocket attacks. Foreign nationals killed in Palestinian attacks and people whose immediate cause of death or the perpetrator’s identity remain disputed, unclear, or unknown, are counted separately.