Protection of Civilians Report | 29 June - 12 July 2021

Latest developments (after the reporting period)

• On 14 July, Israeli forces confiscated at least 49 structures in the Palestinian community of Ras al Tin, displacing 84 people, including 53 children.

• On 15 July, Israeli forces in Humsa – Al Bqai’a confiscated a recently installed structure used to accommodate a family of eight, including six children, who had lost their previous home in last week’s incident (see below).

Highlights from the reporting period

• On 3 July, Israeli settlers, accompanied by soldiers, entered Qusra village, Nablus, and clashed with Palestinian residents, resulting in a Palestinian man, aged 21, killed.  According to the military, the man threw an explosive device and Israeli forces shot him. Israeli settlers and Palestinian residents threw stones at each other and, according to local sources, after the Palestinian was shot, settlers beat him. In demonstrations where Palestinians called upon the Israeli authorities to return the body of the Palestinian killed, Israeli forces dispersed the crowd firing live ammunition, rubber bullets and tear gas, injuring several Palestinians.
• Overall, Israeli forces injured at least 981 Palestinians, including 133 children, in clashes across the West Bank. Of those injured, 892 were in Nablus governorate, including in protests against settlement expansion in the villages of Beita and Osarin and in the abovementioned Qusra events; 19 were injured in Ras al ‘Amud and Silwan neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem; 13 in Halhul village (Hebron); and the rest in other locations. Overall, 36 Palestinians were shot by live ammunition, 214 by rubber bullets, and the rest were mainly treated for tear gas inhalation or were physically assaulted. Beyond the 981 who were injured directly by Israeli forces, 58 were injured either while running away from Israeli forces or in circumstances that could not be verified in Beita and Osarin.
• Israeli forces carried out 163 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 134 Palestinians, including six children, across the West Bank. Most of the operations were in Nablus, followed by Hebron and East Jerusalem, while the rest were across other governorates.  
• On 4 July, the Israeli authorities summoned a nine-year-old Palestinian boy for interrogation for unknown reasons in the Old City of Jerusalem. Since mid-April, at least 65 Palestinian children have been arrested by the Israeli authorities in East Jerusalem. Over half of these children were arrested in June alone. 
• In Gaza, Palestinians released incendiary balloons towards Israel, and Israeli forces carried out four airstrikes, reportedly targeting military sites, injuring two people, and damaging houses as well as a factory. On at least nine occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near the perimeter fence and off the coast, reportedly to enforce access restrictions. They also conducted land-levelling operations inside Gaza, near the perimeter fence, at least four times. 
• On 12 July, the Israeli authorities expanded the permissible fishing zone off the southern Gaza coast from nine to 12 nautical miles (NM) offshore, while keeping it to six NM in the north. On the same day, the Israeli authorities announced the expansion of the range of goods allowed in and out of the Gaza Strip, which had been restricted since the 10-21 May escalation. 
• A total of 59 Palestinian-owned structures were demolished or seized across the West Bank for the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, displacing 81 people and otherwise affecting approximately 1,300 others. These included 30 structures demolished in Humsa - Al Bqai’a (Jordan Valley), a mobile clinic confiscated in Umm Qussa community (Hebron), and an under-construction school demolished in Shu’fat (East Jerusalem). On 8 July, Israeli forces in Turmus’ayya village (Ramallah) demolished, on punitive grounds, a house belonging to the family of a Palestinian, US citizen, who was arrested after killing a settler and injuring two others on 2 May.
• On 2 July 2021, Israeli settlers, under Israeli police escort, moved into an empty building in the Wadi Hilweh area of Silwan neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. This is the second settlement compound established inside Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem, both in Silwan, since the beginning of the year.
• Israeli settlers injured nine Palestinians, including four children and two women, by physically assaulting them, throwing stones at them, or spraying pepper towards them. Six of those injured were in the H2 area of Hebron, two in Maghayir al Abeed, one in Tuba (all in Hebron), and one in Kisan (Bethlehem). Across the West Bank, perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers damaged at least 1,120 trees or saplings, at least five vehicles, as well as electric poles, fences and other Palestinian property.
• Palestinian stone throwers injured at least three Israeli settlers travelling on West Bank roads. At least 21 Israeli-plated cars were damaged, according to Israeli sources.