OCHA: “Protection of Civilians Report | 16-29 August 2022”

Report By the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):

Latest Development (outside the reporting period)

• On 1 September, one Palestinian man was shot and killed by Israeli forces in Ramallah city during a search and arrest operation. More details will be provided in the next reporting period.

Highlights from the reporting period

• A 53-year-old Palestinian man was shot and killed in an Israeli search and arrest operation in Tubas city.

On 19 August, Israeli forces conducted a military operation in Tubas city, where an exchange of fire with armed Palestinians was reported. Israeli forces shot live ammunition and tear gas canisters at residents who threw stones.

A Palestinian man passing by was shot in the head and killed. According to initial investigations by human rights organizations, he was killed by Israeli forces; the Israeli military said that it would investigate the incident. One other Palestinian was arrested in the same operation.

During the reporting period, Israeli forces conducted a total of 108 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 136 Palestinians in the West Bank. Across the West Bank, 13 Palestinians were injured with live ammunition and 136 were arrested by Israeli forces in search-and-arrest operations.

The Jerusalem-governorate accounted for the highest portion of operations (37) and arrests (48). During eight of these operations, Israeli forces fired live ammunition at Palestinians who threw stones, resulting in 39 Palestinian injuries, including 13 by live ammunition.

• An 18-year-old Palestinian was shot and killed, and 75 others were injured, by Israeli forces near Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus city.

On 18 August, Israeli settlers accompanied by Israeli forces accessed the site to pray. While doing so, Israeli forces fired sound bombs and Palestinians threw stones at them.

According to Israeli media reports citing Israeli military sources, Palestinian youth shot at the soldiers. An initial investigation by human rights organizations indicated that the youth were not involved in shooting.

Israeli forces shot live ammunition, rubber-coated metal bullets and teargas canisters, injuring 75 Palestinians, including four with live ammunition; no injuries were reported among Israeli soldiers.

So far in 2022, Israeli forces have killed three Palestinians, including one child, and have injured more than 400 Palestinians, while they were accompanying Israeli settlers to this site.

• A 25-year-old Palestinian man succumbed to wounds sustained on 9 August, when Israeli forces shot him in Nablus city during a military operation. Three other Palestinians, including one boy, were killed and 89 were injured in that military operation, including 76 from live ammunition. This death brings to 75 the total number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since the beginning of the year.
• In total, 248 Palestinians, including at least 42 children, were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.

103 of the injuries were recorded near Beita and Beit Dajan (both in Nablus), and Kafr Qaddum (Qalqilya) in anti-settlement protests. Another 39 Palestinians were injured during search-and-arrest operations (see above).

31 additional injuries were reported following the raid on the offices of civil society organizations (see below) as Israeli forces fired rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas canisters at Palestinians who threw stones in protest at the Israeli military raid. In Nablus city, 75 people were injured following the entry of Israeli settlers to Joseph’s Tomb, accompanied by Israeli forces (see above).

Of the 248 Palestinians injured, about 7 per cent (22 injuries) were by live ammunition. 

• On 18 August, Israeli forces raided and closed the offices of seven Palestinian civil society organizations in the West Bank. In 2020 and 2021, Israeli authorities designated these organizations as “terrorist” and/or “unlawful” groups. Their closure undermines humanitarian, development, and human rights work in the oPt. UN and non-UN entities have called on the Israeli government to allow human rights and humanitarian organizations to continue their work unhindered.

The Israeli authorities demolished, confiscated, or forced people to demolish 55 Palestinian-owned structures in East Jerusalem and Area C of the West Bank, citing the lack of Israeli-issued building permits; ten of the structures were funded by donors.

As a result, 61 people, including 31 children, were displaced, and the livelihoods of about 200 others were affected. Some 47 of the structures were in Area C, including seven in Al Jiftlik Ash Shuneh, in a designated ‘firing zone’ for Israeli military training, and where Palestinian communities are at risk of forcible transfer. Eight other structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including five destroyed by their owners to avoid paying fines imposed by Israeli authorities when they conduct the demolitions.

• Israeli forces restricted the movement of Palestinians in several locations across the West Bank. On 20 August, Israeli forces blocked with earth mounds the entrances to Silwad and closed the metal gates to Ein Yabrud (both in Ramallah), hindering the access of about 9,000 Palestinians to livelihoods and services and forcing long detours.

These closures are believed to be linked to a Palestinian shooting at Israeli-plated vehicles on Road 60, which did not cause any injury. On 28 August, Israeli forces at Jinba checkpoint detained for about four hours nine school staff who were on their way to Jinba school ahead of the opening of the academic year.

Their vehicle was confiscated, and the driver was taken to a nearby military base for questioning. On the same day the teachers of Al Fakhiet school who were travelling into the area from Yatta, were stopped by Israeli forces at a flying checkpoint that was erected near the entrance of Khirbet al Fakheit. The teachers were forced to return back to Yatta. Fixed and flying checkpoints in the area have disrupted the access of teachers and students to school, in some cases forcing them to walk long distances to avoid the checkpoints.

• Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians, and people known or believed to be Israeli settlers damaged Palestinian property in 12 instances.

A 13-year-old Palestinian boy was physically assaulted and injured by an Israeli settler in the H2 area of Hebron. In another incident near Al Mu’arrajat Centre in Ramallah, a Palestinian man was physically assaulted, attacked with stones and sticks and injured by an Israeli settler.

About 250 Palestinian-owned trees were uprooted or vandalized near Israeli settlements next to Jit (Qalqiliya), Turmus’ayya, Ras Karkar and Al Mu’arrajat Centre (all in Ramallah). In Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem, Al Mughayyir (Ramallah), Mantiqat Shi’b al Butum (Hebron) and Marda (Salfit), nine Palestinian-owned cars were vandalized, and reported stone-throwing damaged three Palestinian homes.

Four incidents in Ras al Tin, Al Mughayyir, and Ein Samiya (all in Ramallah) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit) resulted in damage to cultivated crops, livestock, agricultural equipment, and a water network.

• People known or believed to be Palestinians threw stones injuring one Israeli settler and damaging at least eight Israeli vehicles travelling on West Bank roads. In addition, a bus was damaged when Palestinians reportedly opened fire at the bus on Road 60 near Silwad village (Ramallah). These incidents took place near Nablus, Ramallah, and Jerusalem. Israeli-plated vehicles and buses were damaged by stones in eight incidents and by a Molotov cocktail in one incident, according to Israeli sources.
• In the Gaza Strip, on at least 23 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel’s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions in areas within Gaza. Four Palestinian fishermen were arrested, and two fishing boats were confiscated. On one occasion, Israeli military bulldozers leveled land inside Gaza, near the perimeter fence east of Rafah.