Publications
On 22 March, the Palestinian Authority imposed a curfew in the West Bank for 14 days, obliging people to stay at home, except for the purchase of food and medicine, or in case of emergency. First two COVID-19 cases detected in Gaza; 1,400 people held in 21 quarantine centers across the Strip in precarious conditions. The COVID-19 Inter-agency Response Plan for the coming three months, is less than 23 per cent funded.
On 11 March, Israeli forces shot and killed a 16-year-old Palestinian boy and injured another 132 Palestinians, including 17 children, during clashes south of Nablus. The clashes erupted during a protest in Beita village against ongoing attempts by Israeli settlers to take over a hill near the village located in Area B. The boy killed was hit with live ammunition in the head. The Israeli authorities announced the opening of an investigation.
The waiting time for some elective surgeries at Gaza’s main hospital (Al Shifa Hospital) sharply increased. The number of exits through Rafah and Erez crossings increased, compared to the 2019 monthly averages. The number of explosive/incendiary balloons, as well as rockets and mortars launched from Gaza into southern Israel increased. Increase in the volume of truckloads entering Gaza from Egypt and exiting Gaza via Israel. “Great March of Return” (GMR) demonstrations halted.
A round of hostilities between Israel and a Palestinian armed group in Gaza took place on 23 and 24 February and resulted in the injury of 12 Palestinian and 16 Israeli civilians. The round started with the killing of a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) armed group by Israeli forces and the injury of another, while they were reportedly planting an explosive device next to the perimeter fence, east of Khan Younis. Also, two civilians were injured with live ammunition fired by Israeli forces while they were trying to recover the two PIJ members. The images, caught on camera, of an Israeli bulldozer retrieving the body of the man killed from inside the perimeter fence, triggered widespread outrage across the Gaza Strip.
The new year has witnessed increased tension in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), particularly in Gaza. The most serious escalation occurred on 23 and 24 February, following the killing, by Israel, of a member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), who was attempting to place an explosive device along the perimeter fence with Israel; in an incident caught on camera, his body was subsequently retrieved by an Israeli bulldozer, in a manner that triggered widespread outrage across the Gaza Strip.
Akkaba, (population 345), is a village in the Tulkarm governorate in the northern West Bank. About 88 per cent of the community’s 2,200 dunums of land is located in the closed area between the Barrier and the Green Line, the “Seam Zone”. In 2002, following a wave of Palestinian attacks, including suicide bombings, Israel began building the Barrier with the stated aim of preventing these attacks. The vast majority of the Barrier’s route is located within the West Bank, isolating Palestinian communities and farming land, and contributing to the fragmentation of the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt).
Two Palestinians were killed and 14 Israeli soldiers were injured in three separate Palestinian attacks and alleged attacks on 6 February. In Jerusalem’s Old City, a 45-year-old Palestinian citizen of Israel was shot and killed by Israeli police forces after he opened fire and injured a border police officer. In West Jerusalem, a Palestinian man ran his car into a group of Israeli soldiers, injuring 12 of them; the driver was arrested at the Gush Etzion junction (Hebron).
In September 2018, following an attack by Israeli settlers, Suhad and Ahmad concluded that their family could no longer stay in Tel Rumeida, located in the Israeli-controlled area of Hebron city (H2). Suhad and their three children left for another part of the city, while Ahmad has continued living in the same home, from where he runs his business. “Buying a new apartment was a huge economic effort, but I had to think of the welfare of my children.”.
The new year has witnessed increased tension in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), particularly in Gaza. The most serious escalation occurred on 23 and 24 February, following the killing, by Israel, of a member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), who was attempting to place an explosive device along the perimeter fence with Israel; in an incident caught on camera, his body was subsequently retrieved by an Israeli bulldozer, in a manner that triggered widespread outrage across the Gaza Strip.
This dusty tent in a remote part of the northern Jordan Valley is normally home to 11 women and girls from the Daragmeh family in Al Maleh herding community in Tubas governorate. But for the past 14 years, for two days a week, it has also periodically functioned as a health clinic, providing primary healthcare to some of the region’s most vulnerable people.
