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Scene. File? Published by Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR)
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by Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR)

Summary

This week, PCHR documented 159 violations of the international human rights law and international humanitarian law (IHL) by Israeli occupation forces (IOF) and settlers in the occupied Palestinian territory.

As part of the Israeli violations of the right to life and bodily integrity:

In terms of excessive use of force, IOF killed 2 Palestinian civilians, including a child, and wounded 8 others in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. On 29 November 2019, IOF killed Fahd Mohammed al-Astal (16) and injured 7 other civilians, including 5 children, in use of excessive force against the protesters in eastern Khan Younis. The next day in the West Bank, Badawi Khaled Badawi Masalmah (18) was killed and 2 children were arrested after IOF opened fire at them when they were throwing stones at Israeli vehicles passing on the road between “Negohot” and “Shegav” settlements adjacent to Beit ‘Awwa village, southwest of Dura, southwest of Hebron.

Under IOF incursions and house raids, 92 incursions into the West Bank were reported. Those incursions included raids of civilian houses and shootings, enticing fear among civilians, arresting and/or injuring many others. During this week’s incursions, 74 Palestinians were arrested, including 12 children and a woman. In the Gaza Strip, IOF opened fire twice at the eastern Gaza Strip while they opened fire twice at the fishing boats off the Gaza Strip shore.

Under the settlement expansion activities in the West Bank, PCHR documented 8 IOF violations that included construction works interrupted in an agricultural road in Hebron; 40 olive seedlings uprooted, west of Salfit; an under-construction house demolished in Nablus; a construction vehicle demolished under the pretext of being built without license in Area (C) in disregard for the construction license the owner obtained from the Palestinian Authority; 2 water tanks destroyed in the Northern Jordan Valleys; a tin-plate dwelling dismantled in Hebron; and a cement mixer confiscated in Salfit. Moreover, the Israeli Defence Minister, Naftali Bennett, approved the construction of 31 new settlement units in the vegetable market area in the centre of Hebron’s Old City, noting that the market was seized and completely closed in 1994 following the Ibrahimi Mosque Massacre in Hebron as it was owned by the Hebron municipality and residents. As such, settlement outpost no. 21 would takeover Hebron city center and parameters.

PCHR also documented 3 settler-attacks against Palestinian civilians and their property, including burning a car and puncturing tires of 4 other cars in Ramallah in addition to attacking agricultural lands in Nablus and writing racist slogans on the walls.

In terms of the Israeli closure policy, the Gaza Strip still suffers the worst closure in the History of the Israeli occupation of the oPt as it has entered the 14th consecutive year, without any improvement to the movement of persons and goods, humanitarian conditions and bearing catastrophic consequences on all aspects of life. Furthermore, IOF uses Erez Crossing that is designated for movement of individuals as an ambush to arrest Palestinians who obtain permits to exit via Israel.

During the reporting period, IOF arrested a Palestinian businessman from Rafah while on his way to Israel. Meanwhile, the West Bank is divided into separate cantons with key roads blocked by the Israeli occupation since the Second Intifada and with temporary and permanent checkpoints, where civilian movement is restricted and they are subject to arrest as 7 Palestinians were arrested this week only.

Read full report here

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