The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) based in Gaza published its weekly report on Israeli violations against the Palestinian people in the period between April 3 and April 9, 2014, revealing that the army carried out 62 invasions in the West Bank, and 3 limited invasions into the Gaza Strip.As part of its systematic policies and violations, the army continued to commit crimes against the Palestinian people, including the excessive use of force against nonviolent protests against the Wall and settlements, organized by local Palestinians, accompanied by Israeli and international peace activists.
The army also used excessive force against nonviolent protesters close to the border fence between the eastern part of the Gaza Strip and Israel.
The PCHR said the army kidnapped 22 Palestinians in these invasions and attacks, and carried out nine air strikes targeting Palestinian communities, and a number of training sites used by the resistance, in the besieged Gaza Strip.
The air strikes in Gaza led to the destruction of three workshops (blacksmith, plumping, and aluminum) in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, in addition to damaging 7 civilian cars, 21 houses, a warehouse and a water well.
The PCHR added that the army continued to open fire at different parts of the coastal region, and at Palestinian fishermen and their boats on the Gaza shore and in Palestinian territorial waters.
The army confiscated boats, fishing nets, and repeatedly opened fire at fishermen and their boats.
Israel also continued its illegitimate blockade on the coastal region, for the seventh year, and continues to enforce sanctions on the civilian population as part of its collective punishment policy violating all international laws.
In the West Bank, the army continued to use excessive force against nonviolent protests against the Wall and settlements, leading to 12 injuries, including two children and a cameraman in the central West Bank district of Ramallah.
The ongoing Israeli attacks against various communities led to the injury of two civilians, including one child in the northern and southern parts of the West Bank.
Soldiers carried out at least 62 invasions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, three limited invasion into the Gaza Strip, and kidnapped 22 Palestinians, including two children, in the West Bank.
In Hebron, in the southern part of the occupied West Bank, soldiers stole NIS 150.000 and 200 grams of gold, from a house of a Palestinian west of the city.
The army continued to install roadblocks in different parts of the occupied West Bank, causing delays and significant traffic jams, and kidnapped several Palestinians, including a child.
Main Violations Carried Out In The West Bank
Israeli soldiers shot and wounded 14 Palestinian civilians, including three children and a cameraman in the occupied West Bank.
Attacks targeting nonviolent protests against the Wall and Settlements
On April 4, soldiers shot and injured twelve Palestinian civilians, including two children and a cameraman, after the army assaulted two nonviolent protests near the Ofer Israeli prison, southwest of Ramallah, and at the western entrance of Silwad town, northeast of Ramallah.
Ten of the wounded, including the children and cameraman, were shot near the Ofer prison, while dozens suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation, and many were injured after the soldiers physically assaulted them causing various cuts and bruises.
In Bil’in village, near Ramallah, Mohammad Basman Yassin, was shot by live round and shrapnel to his liver, right kidney, chest and nose.
He suffered serious injuries and was moved to the Intensive Care Unit at a medical center in Ramallah; he is the cameraman of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Bil’in.
Five more Palestinians were shot with rubber-coated metal bullets, and many others have been treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation.
Two more Palestinians were shot and injured after the soldiers attacked a nonviolent protest on the road linking tween Silwad and Yabroud, close to Road #60, in the Ramallah district.
One of the wounded was shot by four rounds; one in the back and three in his left leg, and the second Palestinian was shot by a live round in his left leg.
The military violations targeted all nonviolent protests against the Wall and settlements in different parts of the occupied West Bank, leading to dozens of injuries, including Israeli and international peace activists, some of the protesters were assaulted and beaten by the soldiers.
A 17-year old Palestinian was shot by a gas bomb in the face, when the soldiers invaded the Aida refugee camp, in Bethlehem, while several Palestinians suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation.
In a separate incident, a Palestinian was shot and injured after he hurled a Molotov cocktail at an Israeli military vehicle invading Huwwara town, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
Area “C” in the occupied West Bank, under Israeli military control, continues to be subject to large campaigns targeting the Palestinians and their lands, in an attempt to remove them and replace them with Israeli settlements and military camps.
One of the areas that are most impacted by these violations is occupied East Jerusalem, and all nearby Palestinian communities.
In occupied Jerusalem, soldiers demolished three houses that belong to Bedouin families, east of the occupied city.
Israel settlers also continued their escalation and attacks, and uprooted 650 grape saplings in the al-Khader village, in the West Bank district of Bethlehem.
The settlers also smashed a car of a Palestinian journalist, close to the Beit El settlement, north of Ramallah.
“These attacks are carried out while Israel continues its incitement against the Palestinians, thus indirectly encouraging the settlers to continue their violations, and providing them with protection instead of stopping them,” the PCHR said.
It added that Israel continues to ignore complaints filed by the Palestinians against the settlers who attack them, their homes and lands, and that such crimes are committed amidst idleness from the International Community and Arab countries.
Violations In The Gaza Strip
The Israeli Air Force carried out nine air strikes and two incidents where the army opened fire on the Palestinians across the border.
The Navy also carried out seven attacks against fishing boats in Gaza waters.
The Israeli Air Force carried out nine strikes against civilians and training sites for Palestinian armed groups in the coastal region.
Israeli ground forces carried out four attacks by firing across the border into Palestinian communities, while the Israeli navy carried out nine attacks against fishing boats in Palestinian territorial waters
The air force bombarded Gaza five times during the reported period;
Three missiles were fired into a blacksmith workshop in Jabalia, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip; the attack led to excessive property damage, and destroyed two GMC trucks belonging to the owner of the workshop.
The attack also led to property damage in a nearby workshop, and two homes.
The Israeli Air Force also fired two missiles into a training camp used by fighters of the al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas, south of Gaza city.
It also fired three missiles into a car repair and paint shop facility in Jabalia town, causing excessive damage, and destroying five cars. Fires also broke out extending to a nearby aluminum workshop.
Two missiles were fired into a training camp for the National Security Forces, south of Gaza City.
An infant and his uncle were injured when the Israeli air force fired missiles into a home and farmlands in central Gaza.
The two were sleeping in the family home when the army bombarded it; the shelling also shattered doors and windows of twenty nearby homes.
The army repeatedly fired missiles and shells into farmlands in different parts of the coastal region, causing excessive damage, including damage to a storage room for citrus fruits, a shed, and a water well used to provide irrigation to 2.5 kilometers of agricultural lands, and led to power blackouts in large areas of northern Gaza.
Missiles were also fired into empty hothouses, near Khan Younis; the same area was targeted again ten minutes later.
Soldiers, stationed at the Erez terminal, near Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, opened fire at Palestinian workers collecting stones and scrap metal in what once stood as the Industrial Area that was previously bombarded and destroyed by Israel.
Full PCHR Report.
