The Palestinian Center For Human Rights – PCHR: In April 2025, the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF), and Israeli settlers continued their crimes and violations of human rights and international humanitarian law against Palestinians and their properties in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem. These crimes have included willful killings, destruction of public and private property, arrests, threats, among others.
The Following is some of violations highlighted and documented by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR):
Killings and violation of the right to life and bodily integrity:
The IOF and settlers’ attacks during the reporting period in the West Bank have resulted in the killing of 16 Palestinians, including 11 civilians; amongst them 6 children and a woman. Meanwhile, tens were injured and suffocated. Also, two Palestinians died in Israeli jails.
On 02 April 2025, an Israeli Special Force unit killed Hamzah Mohammed Sa’id Khammash (33) after raiding his house in al-Yasminah neighborhood in Nablus’s Old City. According to information obtained by PCHR’s researcher, the unit raided the house after blowing up its door and then shot Hamzah while leaving his room, wounding him in the left thigh. The unit arrested his brother Yousif, threw a blanket over Hamzah’s body, dragged him down the stairs to the street, leaving him to bleed to death and then withdrew.
On 03 April 2025, Yousif Baker Yousif Zaghloul (19) was killed while another was wounded by IOF’s fire. Yousif was wounded in the upper body when he was near Bypass Road 60 adjacent to Husan village, west of Bethlehem, under the pretext of throwing tones at settlers’ vehicles. IOF kept Yousif’s body and arrested the injured.
On 04 April 2025, IOF killed a Palestinian civilian named Hussein Jamil Hardan (43) while he was escaping from his house that had been besieged and raided for search by IOF, forcing its residents out for a while in northern Jenin. IOF moved Hussein’s body to al-Jalamah military checkpoint and after 3 hours hand it over to ambulance teams belonging to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS).
On 06 April 2025, IOF killed ‘Amer Mohammed Sa’adah (15) from Termes’aya village, northern Ramallah. IOF shot him with 11 bullets throughout his body during a stone-throwing at settlers’ vehicles on Bypass Road 60 at the village’s western entrance.
On 08 April 2025, IOF killed Amanah Ibrahim Mohammed Ya’qoub (30), a lawyer, near Haris village in Salfit after directly shooting at her. She was left to bleed to death by the roadside before her body was kept by IOF, claiming she attempted to carry out a stabbing attack.
On 14 April 2025, IOF killed Malek ‘Ali Hattab (17) from al-Jalazone refugee camp after being shot with a bullet in his abdomen. During IOF’s incursion into al-Jalazone refugee camp, northwestern Ramallah, Malek had been throwing stones at the forces.
On 17 April 2025, the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club announced the death of Mos’ab Hasan ‘Adeili (20), from Usrin village. Mos’ab had been detained in the Israeli Megiddo Prison and then taken to Soroka Hospital1 where his death was pronounced. Mos’ab had been detained since 22 March 2024 and serving a 13-month prison sentence.
On 17 April 2025, IOF killed 2 civilians, including a child, and were identified as Jihad Adham ‘Abdullah ‘Adeili (17) and Seif Ghassan Jaber ‘Adeili (19), from Usrin village, southeastern Nablus. Both were shot near al-Bayyadah area between Usrin and Bita villages near “Avatar” Settlement established in Sbeih Mount, southern Bita village under the pretext of throwing stones at the Israeli vehicles. IOF kept both bodies in custody.
On 20 April 2025, the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club announced the death of Naser Khalil Mohammed ‘Odah Radaydah (49), a detainee in Israeli ‘Ofer Prison, western Ramallah. He died after he was transported to Hadassa Hospital in occupied Jerusalem on the afternoon of 17 April 2025 without any information given about the causes of death. IOF arrested Naser after shooting at him near Mezmouriya military checkpoint, northeast of Bethlehem on 18 September 2023, under the pretext of stabbing an Israeli soldier at the checkpoint.2
On 23 April 2025, IOF killed Mahmoud Methqal ‘Ali Abu al-Hayjaa (12) after being shot with a bullet that entered his abdomen and exited his thigh during stone clashes with IOF, who were besieging a house in al-Yamoun village, west of Jenin.
On 25 April 2025, IOF killed ‘Abdel Khaleq Mos’ab Jabbour (17) from Salem village, eastern Nablus after he was shot with a bullet in his chest. At the time, ‘Abdel Khaleq was closing his shop when IOF were raising the village.
On 26 April 2025, the medical staff at the Arab Specialized Hospital in Nablus announced the death of Ahmed Ibrahim Bakeer Nasasrah (32), from Beit Foriq village, east of Nablus, succumbing to wounds he sustained in his back after IOF had shot him during their incursion into the village on 02 February 2025.
Thus, the death toll due to the IOF’s attacks in the West Bank since the beginning of this year has risen to 115, including 63 civilians, among them 19 children and 4 women. Furthermore, 6 Palestinian detainees, including a child, have died in Israeli jails.
Demolition and land-razing
During the reporting period, the IOF and Israeli settlers demolished 138 facilities in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem: 56 houses were completely demolished, among them 48 were demolished under the pretext of unlicensed construction, 3 houses were demolished as part of the Israeli collective punishment policy against those carrying out attacks on IOF and settlers, and 3 were self-demolished by the owners in Occupied East Jerusalem and Northern Jordan Valleys. They also demolished 82 commercial facilities and confiscated properties. IOF also razed lands planted with olive trees in Hebron. For more details on part of the demolition, please review this press release.
During their ongoing military offensive on Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps, the IOF destroyed more houses and buildings. Moreover, during their military assaults in the West bank’s cities and refugee camps, IOF conducted extensive destruction to infrastructure, including streets, water pipes, telephone and electricity lines.
Land confiscations and settlement expansion
During the reporting period, the IOF and Israeli settlers continued their settlement expansion policy materialized in confiscating and razing Palestinian lands to establish settlement outposts and expand settlements.
On 08 April 2025, settlers established a new settlement outpost in the Hathrourah Bedouin Community in al-Khan al-Ahmar, east of occupied East Jerusalem, with the aim of increasing settlement activity in the area and forcibly displacing the Bedouin communities in favor of E1 settlement project, which intends to separate the northern Westbank from its southern part.
On 14 April 2025, settlers backed up by IOF established a settlement outpost, southwest of al-Thaheriyah village in Hebron. The sellers brought a barrack and metal caravan and placed them in the area.
Settler violence
Israeli settlers conducted 15 attacks against Palestinians and their properties in various villages and cities across the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem. Their attacks injured a child and elderly with live bullets and 12 others, including a woman and a child, with different tools such as stones, sticks and sharp objects. The attacks included burning a wedding hall and writing hostile words against Arabs on its walls, burning 4 vehicles and smashing windows of another, damaging 110 bee cells, stealing 1500 sheep, tearing up farmers’ tents and killing 4 sheep.
IOF Attacks in Jerusalem:
IOF’s violations and Judaization attempts continued in occupied East Jerusalem by approving the building of hundreds of new settlement units and entrenching their house demolition policy against Palestinians under various pretexts. IOF also continue to impose age-based access restrictions to Al-Aqsa Mosque, especially on Fridays, and enforce strict search procedures.
In addition to house and facility demolitions as elaborated above, PCHR documented the following:
On 08 April 2025, IOF raided al-Quds University campus in Abu Dis in eastern occupied East Jerusalem and besieged thousands of students in their faculties. They evacuated its courtyards by force amid heavy and indiscriminate firing of teargas canisters. As a result, 23 students suffocated due to gas inhalation. IOF raided the university to prevent a sit-in organized by the Student Union in solidarity with the Gaza Strip population.
On the same day, IOF raided the headquarters of the General Federation of Palestinian Trade Unions on Salah al-Din Street in central occupied East Jerusalem, arrested the union’s secretary Fawzi Shaaban, and posted an order to shut down the headquarters.
Teams from the Israeli Ministry of Education, accompanied by Israeli police and intelligence officers, also raided 6 schools run by UNRWA in occupied East Jerusalem and handed their administration decisions to close these schools after a month and preventing any presence on the premises. The Ministry claims these schools do not have the permits necessary for their operation; however, these decisions are part of Israel’s decision to ban UNRWA’s activities that has been approved by most of the Knesset members since 28 October 2024.
On 19 April 2025, IOF intensified their military measures at the checkpoints surrounding occupied East Jerusalem, depriving thousands of Christians from the West Bank of going to Jerusalem and participating in the observance of Holy Saturday. IOF established military checkpoints in the vicinity of the Old City and roads leading to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the Old City. In the morning, IOF established checkpoints, barricades and iron barriers in the vicinity of the Holy Sepulcher and within its main courtyards in the Old City center in occupied East Jerusalem. IOF intensified their presence at the New Gate and Hebron Gate being deployed in the alleys, main roads and the intersection of the Old City’s neighborhoods surrounding the Church. At every point or entrance leading to the church, they positioned iron barriers and obstructed movement through which, hindering the celebrating worshippers’ access to the church. Many were prevented from crossing the checkpoints, despite some having official permits to enter the church, in a blatant violation of the freedom of worship and access to holy sites.
Aat around 15:00, as the celebrations started in the vicinity of the Sepulcher Church, IOF obstructed the Holy Saturday Parade and assaulted the scout teams and attendees after reaching the church courtyard. They pointed their guns at the celebrators, including elderlies, women and scout children. Some were pushed, beaten, insulted and screamed at, in a provocative and unacceptable scene. Also, IOF prevented the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Adolfo Tito Yllana, and several bishops from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulcher to participate in the Holy Saturday rituals, which are one of the most important rituals in the Christian Passion Week. Also, celebrators at the New Gate and Hebron Gate were assaulted by IOF due to the overcrowding of Christian celebrators who flooded from Jerusalem and Israel.
On 28 April 2025, the Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, issued a decision to close the Jerusalem Endowment office in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem, under the pretext of its participation in activities funded by the Palestinian Authority.
Restriction on freedom of movement and checkpoints
The IOF have established more military checkpoints in the West Bank and tightened restrictions on freedom of movement between the cities and villages, rendering them isolated. During the reporting period, the IOF established hundreds of temporary checkpoints and metal detector gates along the streets and between the villages in addition to tens of permanent checkpoints aiming to restrict Palestinians’ freedom of movement.
Moreover, Palestinian civilians are subjected to inhumane and degrading treatment at military checkpoints, which obstruct their movement and endanger their lives, as they are killed based on unfounded suspicions or these checkpoints are used as ambushes to arrest allegedly wanted persons.
- Palestinian Prisoner’s Club, Official channel on Telegram, 17 April 2025: https://t.me/ppsmo/7089 ↩︎
- Palestinian Prisoner’s Club, Official channel on Telegram, 20 April 2025: https://t.me/ppsmo/7097 ↩︎
