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Photo:
Arresting a Palestinian man in Hebron. Credit: AP Published by Haaretz

IDF soldiers operating in the West Bank, in June. Credit: IDF spokesperson Published by Haaretz
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Eighty-one Palestinians have been killed by Israeli civilians or as a result of the army's increasing arrest operations in the West Bank in 2022

by Hagar Shezaf for Haaretz
Sept 14, 2022

As of Monday, 81 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank so far this year, making it the deadliest year since 2015 – in which 99 were killed.

Seventy-eight of the 81 were shot by Israeli security forces, three were killed by Israeli civilians, and one more whom the Palestinians say was shot by Israeli forces despite IDF claims that he was likely killed by armed Palestinians.

About 31 of the Palestinians who died this year were killed in the Jenin region, where Israeli forces have been conducting nightly raids since the wave of terror attacks by Palestinians in Israel began in late March.

Seventeen of the Palestinians were killed in the Nablus region, which is surrounded by Israeli settlements and where security sources say the power of the Palestinian Authority is weakening.

Based on IDF data for this past year, there have been 140 incidents in which Israeli forces and civilians were fired at in the West Bank, compared with 61 such incidents in 2021 – which was double the number for 2020.
The month with the highest number of shooting incidents this year was August, with a total of 28 such events. The IDF also tallied 258 incidents this year in which explosive devices were thrown at Israeli forces and civilians.

Israeli military sources report that the high number of Palestinians killed stems from the increase in attacks on the army when entering Palestinian territory to conduct arrests, carry out routine security operations, and quell clashes between Palestinians and Jewish worshippers at Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus. A newly established group in Nablus called the Lions' Den, for example, consists of hundreds of young people from different Palestinian groups who take part in shootings on IDF forces.

Last week, Muhammed Sabana, 29, was killed as he recorded a live video on his TikTok account during an army raid in Jenin. Thousands of viewers were watching his broadcast as he was shot, and immediately began writing responses like “The broadcaster has been injured!”

His mother, Umm Aleh, told Haaretz that her son lived with her. “In recent months, we wanted to get him married. He and I were good friends; we’d hang out together, we’d eat together,” she related. She explains that he was in the practice of photographing for TikTok a great deal of what was going on in his life. “He would film meetings with friends. Everything, he’d film it all,” she said.

On the evening that he was shot, she related, they had been sitting together at home, and he told her that he was going out to see what was happening. “I telephoned him and told him to come back home, and that he should be careful. Later on, I got the news that he’d been wounded. I went to the hospital and discovered that he’d been killed. I miss him, especially at night.”

In another incident, Hussein Kawarik, a mentally ill Palestinian man, was shot by Israeli soldiers in August after failing to stop at a checkpoint. The army held his body for one week without returning it to his family.

On September 1, Samer Khaled was killed by Palestinian gunfire in the Balata refugee camp in Nablus during IDF activity in the area.

The army recently investigated the death of Yazan Afaneh, 27, who was also killed on September 1 in Al-Bireh. According to the IDF, the results of the investigation indicate that there was no use of live ammunition, only rubber bullets. Yet the IDF's use of rubber bullets has killed several Palestinians over the years.

An investigation was also opened into the death of Salah Sawafta, 58, from Tubas, who was killed by live fire on his way home from morning prayers at the local mosque. The IDF concluded that it was highly probably Sawafta was shot by Palestinian militants, not Israeli forces. Military sources told Haaretz that according to their findings, when Sawafta was shot, Israeli snipers were in their positions and the army's vehicles were already on their way out.

The army added that they possess an aerial photograph that shows that the IDF forces were no longer present at the time of the event, but they refused to share the picture with Haaretz, due to "security of the information." The Palestinians claim that Sawafta was killed by IDF fire.
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Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory: (Weekly Update 01-07 September 2022)

by Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR)
September 8, 2022

... So far in 2022, IOF attacks killed 116 Palestinians, including 84 civilians: 24 children, 8 women, 2 Palestinians killed by Israeli settler and the rest were activists; 15 of them were assassinated. Thirty-two of those killed, including 19 civilians: 8 children and 3 women were in the latest Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip. Also, 1,308 Palestinians were wounded in IOF’s attacks, including 204 children, 40 women, and 22 journalists, in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Moreover, 4 Palestinian detainees, including a woman, died in the Israeli jails.

.... [Read complete report at PCHR News Source link]

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