Violation of Right to Life and Bodily Integrity

6 Palestinians were killed, including 2 children; one succumbed to his pervious injury, and 6 others were injured, while dozens of others suffocated and sustained bruises in Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) and settler attacks in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt).

Details are as follows:

• On 04 August 2023, Qusai Jamal Mu’tan (18) was killed in cold blood by settler’s fire, while two other Palestinians were injured by other settlers’ fire in Burqa village, east of Ramallah. ( Details available in PCHR’s press release.)

• On the same day, Mahmoud Hussam Abu Sa’an (18) was killed by IOF’s fire after he threw Molotov Cocktails at them during their incursion into Tulkarm and its camp.

• On 06 August 2023, in a crime of extra-judicial executions (assassination), IOF killed 3 Palestinians, including a child, in Jenin.

• On 07 August 2023, medical sources at the Palestine Medical Complex announced the death of Ramzi Fathi Hamed (17), from Silwad village, east of Ramallah, who succumbed to an abdominal injury after the security guard of “Ofra” settlement established on lands confiscated from Silwad and Beitin villages, east of Ramallah, fired two live bullets at him, as Hamed threw Molotov Cocktails at the settlement on 01 August 2023.

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.

• On 04 August 2023, two Palestinians were shot with rubber-coated bullets during IOF’s suppression of Kufur Qaddoum weekly peaceful protest against settlements in northern Qalqilia.

• On the same day, Minister Moayad Sha’ban, Head of the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission (CWRC), and other persons suffocated and sustained bruises during IOF’s suppression of Deir Istiya weekly peaceful protest in Salfit.

• Also, a Palestinian was injured with a rubber-coated bullet in his leg during clashes with IOF following their incursion into Al-Eizariya village, southeast of occupied East Jerusalem. Before their withdrawal, IOF arrested a Palestinian.

• In the Gaza Strip, at least 2 IOF shootings were reported on agricultural lands in eastern Gaza Strip. However, neither material damage nor casualties were reported.

So far in 2023, IOF attacks have killed 208 Palestinians, including 103 civilians; amongst them 37 children, 6 women and a person with disability, and the rest were members of the Palestinian armed groups, including 7 children, 9 killed by settlers, and two died in Israeli prisons. Meanwhile, 1015 Palestinians, including 150 children, 30 women and 16 journalists, were injured in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Land Razing, Demolitions, Notices and Settlement

• On 03 August 2023, IOF razed a 4-dunum plot of land in al-Dab’a area, east of Battir village in western Bethlehem, and uprooted at least 70 olive seedlings.

• On 06 August 2023, IOF forced 8 families of 36, including 10 children, to leave al-Qaboun Compound located between Kafr Malik and al-Mughayyir village, east of Ramallah, after IOF closed all roads leading to them and prevented sheep-grazing, while settlers stole their sheep.

• On the same day, IOF seized a generator from a cave where ‘Aziz al-Rab’I live in Kherbet Janba, east of Yatta, south of Hebron.

• On 07 August 2023, IOF confiscated 2 vehicles and ceased ad-Dhahiriya Municipality’s construction works to establish agricultural roads in al-Baha area, east of ad-Dhahiriya village in southern Hebron, under the pretext of working in Area “C”.

• On 08 August 2023, IOF handed 14 eviction notices to inhabited houses and cease-construction notices to other under-construction houses in Sarta villages, west of Salfit, under the pretext of unlicensed construction in Area “C”.

• On the same day, IOF uprooted about 20 olive seedlings and levelled agricultural lands to build a settlement road in Kafr ad-Dik village, west of Salfit.

• On 09 August 2023, IOF handed 8 cease-construction notices to under-construction houses in Sinjil village, east of Ramallah, under the pretext of unlicensed construction in Area “C”.

Since the beginning of 2023, IOF have made 136 families homeless, a total of 796 persons, including 174 women and 352 children. This was the outcome of IOF demolition of 136 houses; 34 were forcibly self-demolished by their owners and 14 were demolished on grounds of collective punishment. IOF also demolished 99 other civilian objects, razed other property, and delivered dozens of notices of demolition and cease-construction in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Demolitions on Grounds of Collective Punishment

• On 08 August 2023, IOF destroyed a residential unit belonging to the family of ‘Abdul-Fattah Hussein Kharousha in the old ‘Askar refugee camp, northeast of Nablus as part of IOF’s collective punishment policy against Palestinian families of those accused of carrying out attacks against IOF and/or settlers.

• PCHR’s fieldworker reported that IOF moved into ‘Askar refugee camp in Nablus and broke into a 4-storey house belonging to Kharousha family, as they forced 4 families living the building out, and two other families of their relatives in nearby houses under fire and teargas canisters.  As a result, a Palestinian was wounded with a live bullet in the left thigh.

During the incursion, IOF implanted explosives on the 3rd floor, and remotely detonated it. As a result, the 120-sqm apartment, which housed a family of 4, including a woman, was destroyed, while 3 apartments in the same building and 2 other apartments in a nearby buildings sustained damage. It is noteworthy that IOF killed ‘Abdul-Fattah Kharousha on 07 March 2023 after he was accused of an attack that killed setters on 26 February 2023.

Settler-attacks and Retaliatory Acts

• On 05 August 2023, settlers from “Ma’ale Adumim” settlement, threw stones at Palestinians and their vehicles at the entrance to Al-Eizariya village, east of East Jerusalem. As a result, windows of many vehicles were broken, and Palestinians, including women and children, panicked.

Since the beginning of the year, settlers have conducted at least 293 attacks against Palestinian civilians and their property. As a result, 9 Palestinians were killed, and dozens of others were injured; most of them due to being beaten and thrown with stones. Also, dozens of houses, vehicles and civilian facilities were set ablaze.

Israeli Closure, Restrictions on Freedom of Movement, and Collective Punishment

Israeli occupation maintains its illegal and inhuman 17-year closure on the Gaza Strip.

In the West Bank, IOF continues to impose restrictions on the freedom of movement. On top of its 110 permanent checkpoints, IOF established 134 temporary military checkpoints in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, and arrested Palestinians at those checkpoints.

• On 06 August 2023, IOF closed the northern entrance to Tuqu’ village, south of Bethlehem, and reopened it later. The closure recurred the following day.

• On 07 August 2023, IOF closed Qalandia checkpoint and later reopened it.

• On 08 August 2023, IOF closed the detector gates established at the entrances to villages of Nabi Saleh, Aboud, and Kharbatha Bani Harith, and reopened them after about an hour and a half. This comes as part of IOF’s collective punishment policy allegedly after a settler’s vehicle was exposed to shotting near the entrance to “Aterot” settlement, which is established on the lands of Umm Safa village, northwest of Ramallah. The entrances to Silwad were also closed but reopened later.

So far in 2023, IOF have established 3,692 temporary checkpoints and arrested tens of Palestinians at those checkpoints.