PCHR: Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Weekly Update | March 30 – April 5, 2023)

4 Palestinians, one of them from the Negev, were killed, and 16 others were wounded, including two children while dozens of others suffocated in the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) attacks in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), including East Jerusalem.

Details are as follows:

• On 01 April 2023, Mohammad Rateb Baradhiya (23) was killed after IOF opened fire at him and his vehicle that he was driving. His vehicle crashed into an IOF military vehicle parked on the side of the Bypass Road (60) near the entrance to Beit Ummar in Hebron. IOF announced that they opened fire at a Palestinian, who carried out a run-over attack that injured two soldiers. IOF kept the body of Baradhiya and took it with them.
• On 31 March 2023, Mohammad Khaled Al-‘Osaibi (26), a doctor from Houra village in Negev in Israel, was killed with several live bullets fired by IOF from a distance of 1-meter, after altercations erupted between him and an Israeli police officer during interrogation at the Chain Gate leading to Al-Aqsa Mosque. He was detained at the time IOF was trying to evacuate the area after Tarawih prayers. IOF claimed that Al-‘Osaibi snatched a weapon from a police officer and used it to open fire. As a result, the police officers fired several bullets at him and immediately killed him. While IOF were evacuating the area, they assaulted shopkeepers and Palestinians by beating and pushing them and destroying the goods of some shops, and arrested a Palestinian in central Qattanin Market after severely beating him.
• 03 April 2023, Mohammad Naser Sa’eed (21) and Mohammad Mustafa ‘Ali Abu Baker (42), from Nablus, both members of the Palestinian armed groups, were killed by IOF’s fire during clashes after the latter’s incursion into Al-Makhfiyya neighborhood in Nablus and cordoning one of the houses. During the incursion, IOF broke into several apartments, interrogated their residents, and unleashed a detection dog at a university student, biting his left leg while interrogating his colleague. Before withdrawal, IOF arrested two Palestinians, claiming that they were “wanted”.

Meanwhile, those injured were victims of excessive use of force that accompanied IOF incursions into cities and villages or suppression of peaceful protests organized by Palestinian civilians, and they were as follows:

• On 30 March 2023, 2 Palestinians were injured during clashes with IOF after the latter’s incursion into Qabatiya in Jenin. Before withdrawal, IOF arrested Palestinians.
• On the same day, dozens of players and spectators suffocated and fainted due to tear gas inhalation, after IOF heavily fired tear gas canisters at Faisal Al-Hussini Stadium in Al-Ram village in occupied East Jerusalem. The incident coincided with the presence of the Turkish Ambassador inside the stadium to watch the match along with Jibril Rajoub, President of the Palestinian Football Association (PFA).
• On 31 March 2023, 3 Palestinians, including two children, were injured during IOF’s suppression of Kafr Qaddoum weekly protest in northern Qalqilya.
• On 02 April 2023, a Palestinian was injured with a rubber-coated metal bullet in the chest during clashes with IOF in the town of Beit Ummar in Hebron.
• On 04 April 2023, 3 Palestinians were injured; one of them was seriously wounded after being shot with a live bullet in the abdomen, during clashes with IOF, after the latter’s raid on Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem. Before withdrawing, IOF broke into dozens of residential homes and arrested 7 Palestinians, including a woman.
• On the same day, an undercover Israeli force dressed like Palestinian civilians, opened fire at ‘Omar Ibrahim Abu Mayyalah (15), after claiming that he attempted to put a Molotov Cocktail inside a vehicle belonging to the settlement outpost guards, in conjunction with the clashes with IOF in Silwan, East Jerusalem. As a result, Abu Mayyalah was wounded with a live bullet, and while people tried to provide him first aid and take him to Al-Makassed Hospital in Al-Tur neighborhood via a private vehicle, IOF chased them, closed the streets, raided the Hospital, arrested the child, and referred him to Hadassah Al-Issawiya Hospital. Also, IOF arrested 6 Palestinians after chasing young men and boys and raiding several homes.

During this week, confrontations with IOF repeatedly broke out, where tear gas canisters were fired. As a result, dozens were suffocated during IOF’s raids of Hebron neighborhoods.

• In the Gaza Strip, 5 Palestinians were injured with live bullets, and others suffocated, after IOF stationed along the security fence in eastern Gaza, opened fire at them and fired tear gas canisters at a youth gathering in Malka area, east of Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, to commemorate Earth Day on 30 March 2023. Also, 6 IOF shootings were reported on agricultural lands in eastern Gaza, and 8 shootings were reported on fishing boats off the Western Gaza shores. IOF carried out several airstrikes and artillery shelling targeting two sites of the Palestinian armed groups and border control points, east of the Gaza Strip at dawn on 05 April 2023, causing damage but no injuries.

So far in 2023, IOF attacks killed 93 Palestinians, including 47 civilians; 15 of them were children, a woman, and the rest were members of the Palestinian armed groups, including 2 children, 6 killed by settlers, and one died in Israeli prisons. Meanwhile, 414 Palestinians, including 56 children, 2 women and 10 journalists, were injured.

• On the evening of 04 April 2023, IOF raided al-Aqsa Mosque and its praying halls, violently assaulted Palestinian worshipers inside the mosque and in its yards and fired stun grenades and rubber bullets at them until dawn of the following day. IOF also arrested and attacked more than 400 Palestinians, including 65 children, after cordoning off and storming al-Qibli Mosque, assaulting the worshipers and severely beating them with batons and helmets, sustaining dozens of them bruises and wounds. Afterwards, IOF released 397 detainees, on the condition of deportation from Al-Aqsa and the Old, after conducting field investigations, and kept the rest in detention. (Details available at PCHR’s press release).
• On 05 April 2023, IOF arrested journalist Wahbi Kamel Makiya (39), when he was trying to cover the raid of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and document IOF assaults on the worshipers while securing the settlers’ raids on the first day of Jewish Passover.
• In the evening, IOF re-stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque, and assaulted worshipers with stun grenades, tear gas canisters and rubber bullets. Following Tarawih prayer, IOF surrounded Al-Qibli Mosque, attacked worshipers, forced them out of the prayer hall and did not allow them to perform Witr prayer which is usually performed after Tarawih. IOF then forced all those present at the Mosque’sl doors and violently beat them with sticks. Minutes later, the heavily-armed forces raided al-Qibli Mosque amid heavy firing of rubber-coated bullets, assaulted the worshipers inside while performing Witr prayer, severely beat them with sticks, and fired rubber bullets and stun grenades inside to force them to leave immediately. As soon as the worshipers left Al-Qibli Mosque, Israeli Special Forces chased them in the Mosque’s yards to force them out via Al-Aqsa gates. They also chased them outside the gates, beat them with sticks and pushed them especially at Al-Asbat gate (Lions Gate), Hitta Gate (Remission Gate) and Chain Gate.

It should be noted that IOF, since the beginning of Ramadan, prevent Palestinians from performing I’tikaaf prayers and staying in Al-Aqsa Mosque after performing Tarawih prayers. They force them to leave and prevent them entry to the Mosque until the dawn prayer.

Land Razing, Demolitions, and Notices

• On 30 March 2023, IOF demolished a 170-sqm under-construction house and a 30-sqm barracks during the latter’s raid into Al-Nuwaimeh village in Jericho, under the pretext of unlicensed construction. It is noteworthy that the owner of the house has a wife and 7 children.

Since the beginning of 2023, IOF made 64 families homeless, a total of 406 persons, including 81 women and 183 children. This was the outcome of IOF demolition of 67 houses; 16 were forcibly self-demolished by their owners and 6 were demolished on grounds of collective punishment. IOF also demolished 58 other civilian objects, razed other property, and delivered dozens of notices of demolition and cease-construction in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Settler-attacks and Retaliatory Acts

Settlers carried out 6 attacks against Palestinians and their property in the West Bank, including uprooting and burning trees and wounding a Palestinian woman after attacking her with stones.

Details are as follows:

• On 31 March 2023, settlers uprooted 400 olive and grape seedlings from the agricultural lands in Al-Khader village, southwest of Bethlehem. On 03 April 2023, settlers broke into the area again and uprooted 40 more olive trees and stole them.
• On 01 April 2023, settlers uprooted branches of 20 olive trees in Khalayel Al-Luz village, south of Bethlehem.
• On 02 April 2023, settlers, protected by IOF, attacked lands and homes of citizens in Sha’ab Al-Sir area in Hebron, burned 20 old olive trees, and attacked Palestinians’ homes with stones. As a result, a woman was injured with a stone in her abdomen. When the villagers tried to confront them, IOF intervened and fired teargas canisters at them. Later, the settlers withdrew, but they returned in the next 2 days and attacked the Palestinians’ home.

Since the beginning of the year, settlers have conducted at least 168 attacks against Palestinian civilians and their property. As a result, 6 Palestinians were killed, and dozens of others were injured; most of them after being beaten and thrown with stones. Also, dozens of houses, vehicles and civilian facilities were set ablaze.

IOF Incursions and Arrests of Palestinian Civilians

IOF carried out 229 into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Those incursions included raids and searches of civilian houses and facilities and establishment of checkpoints. During those incursions, 547 Palestinians were arrested, including 69 children, 2 women and a journalist.

Most of the arrests were in the city of Jerusalem, the largest was an arrest campaign that targeted hundreds of Palestinians after being assaulted inside Al-Qibli Mosque in al-Aqsa Mosque at dawn on 05 April 2023.

So far in 2023, IOF conducted 2806 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, during which 1790 Palestinians were arrested, including 23 women and 227 children. Also, IOF arrested 23 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip; 6 were fishermen and 14 were trying to infiltrate into Israel, and 3 travelers at Erez Crossing. IOF also conducted 9 incursions.

Israeli Closure, Restrictions on Freedom of Movement and Collective Punishment

Israeli occupation maintains its illegal and inhuman 16-year closure on the Gaza Strip.

Details available in PCHR’s monthly-update in the Gaza crossings.

• On 05 April 2023, in the evening, IOF imposed a comprehensive closure on the West Bank, and closed the crossings with the Gaza Strip to be later opened on 08 April 2023 under the pretext of the Jewish Passover holiday.
• In the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, IOF continue to impose restrictions on the freedom of movement. On top of its 110 permanent checkpoints, IOF established 124 temporary military checkpoints in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, and arrested 7 Palestinians at those checkpoints.
• For the second week in a row, IOF continue to impose a closure on Huwara village, southeast of Nablus, after announcing it a “closed military zone” on 25 March 2023, and imposed a cordon on it. They closed the internal streets with sand berms, established more checkpoints and placed cement cubes on the village’s main street, as part of the collective punishment policy following the shooting attack against IOF in the village. IOF’s restrictions extended to affect all Nablus, as they closed all military checkpoints leading to the village, rendering entry into the city almost impossible.
• On 03 April 2023, IOF closed the entrance to Beita village adjacent to Huwara village, southeast of Nablus with berms, cement blocks and an electronic detector gate and denied entry into the village.

So far in 2023, IOF established 1682 temporary military checkpoints and arrested 70 Palestinians at those checkpoints.