Description

Protection of Civilians Report | 8-21 November 2022

United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs- Palestinians Territories (UNOCHA-oPT)

Latest Developments (outside the reporting period)

On 24 November, the body of a 17-year-old Israeli, who reportedly died in a car accident in Jenin on 23 November, was handed to the Israeli military, after the body was taken away from the hospital and withheld by a Palestinian group in the Jenin refugee camp for more than 30 hours.

On 23 November, in two separate incidents, Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinians, including one child, and injured 210 others during confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli forces that were triggered by a visit of Israeli settlers to Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus city.

On 23 November, a Palestinian succumbed to his wounds sustained from Israeli forces gunfire during an Israeli search and arrest operation in the Old City of Nablus, on 24 July 2022.

On 23 November, two explosions went off near bus stops in Jerusalem, killing an Israeli child and injuring 14 others. Subsequently, Israeli forces searched for potential suspects in Palestinian communities.

On 23 November, the Israeli authorities demolished the Isfey Al Faqua donor-funded school in Massafer Yatta southern Hebron, after the Israeli High Court of Justice cancelled a temporary injunction prohibiting demolition. The school served 21 students from three different communities. Isfey Al Fauqa is one of 13 herding communities located in an area designated by the Israeli military as a ‘Firing Zone 918’ in Masafer Yatta, home to around 1,150 Palestinians half of whom are children.
(More details will be provided on the above-mentioned incidents in the next report)

Highlights from the reporting period

Five Palestinians and three Israelis were killed, and another 146 Palestinians and five Israelis were injured in the West Bank. Another Israeli settler died from injuries sustained in a Palestinian stabbing attack near Al Funduq village (Qalqilya) on 25 October 2022. Measured as a monthly average, 2022 is the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank since the United Nations started systematically counting fatalities in 2005, with 127 Palestinians killed so far this year.

Two Palestinians, including one child, were killed and 60 others were injured by Israeli forces in two separate incidents in the West Bank. On 9 November, a 15-year-old Palestinian boy was shot with live ammunition fired by the Israeli forces while the explosive device (IED) he was allegedly planting detonated during armed clashes in Nablus City. This took place when Israeli settlers and members of the Israeli parliament visited Joseph’s Tomb which triggered confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli forces and resulted in the injury of 60 Palestinians. Joseph’s Tomb has seen recurrent confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli forces escorting Israeli settlers over the years. Since the beginning of 2022, Israeli forces have killed four Palestinians, including two children, and have injured 525, while accompanying Israeli settlers to the site. On 10 November, Israeli forces shot and fatally injured with live ammunition a 29-year-old Palestinian man, who was attempting to reach his workplace in Israel through a breach in the Barrier near Anin village (Jenin). According to official medical sources, the man sustained severe blood loss when he was detained at an Israeli military base for at least one hour, delaying his transfer to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. This is the fourth Palestinian worker killed while trying to cross through unofficial openings in the Barrier since the beginning of 2022. In another incident Israeli forces fired live ammunition toward a Palestinian trying to cross through breaches in the Barrier in Tulkarm while trying to reach his workplace in Israel.

A Palestinian man killed three Israelis and injured another three in a stabbing and ramming attack near Salfit. On 15 November, a 19-year-old Palestinian man carried out an attack in and around Ariel settlement. Two Israelis were stabbed and killed, before the perpetrator rammed and killed another Israeli settler with a stolen vehicle. He was subsequently killed by Israeli forces.
Following the attack, Israeli forces raided Haris (Salfit), the perpetrator’s hometown, and took measurements of his house allegedly in preparation of a punitive demolition. In a separate incident on 8 November, a 55-year-old Israeli settler died from injuries sustained on 25 October 2022, after a Palestinian man stabbed him near Al Funduq village (Qalqilya).
Since the beginning of the year, ten Israelis were killed in the West Bank, including four members of the Israeli forces, compared to three Israelis killed in 2021.

Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinian children and injured five others during two search-and-arrest operation in Ramallah and Jenin refugee camp. On 14 November, a 15-year-old Palestinian girl was killed, and another man was injured and arrested in a pre-dawn search and arrest operation in Beituniya (Ramallah). The UN Special Coordinator, Tor Wennesland, called on Israel to conduct an immediate and thorough investigation into the incident. According to Israeli media sources citing the Israeli army, soldiers opened fire toward a suspicious vehicle that was accelerating toward them. According to local community sources, the Israeli army shot live fire towards the car from a distance. On 21 November, a 17-year-old Palestinian child was killed while he was on his way to school, and three others were injured during an Israeli forces operation in the vicinity of Jenin refugee camp. During the operation, Israeli forces reportedly launched a shoulder-held missile and exchanged fire with Palestinians before arresting another Palestinian man. Since the beginning of the year, Israeli forces have shot and killed 63 Palestinians, including fifteen children, during search-and-arrest operations across the West Bank; twenty of the fatalities have been in Jenin refugee camp.

In total, 138 Palestinians, including at least 18 children, were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank, of whom 23 (17%) were shot with live ammunition. The majority of injuries (67%) took place in the Nablus governorate; 60 during confrontations that erupted near Joseph tomb (see above), 31 near Beit Dajan and Beita in demonstrations against the access restrictions and settlement expansion in the area, and one child during a search and arrest operation in the Old City of Nablus. Another three were injured in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqilya). Twenty-three other Palestinians were injured in confrontations with Israeli forces, thirteen during search and arrest operations and ad-hoc arrests, two at flying checkpoints, four when Israeli forces physically assaulted and fired tear gas canisters at Palestinians while trying to reach their land near an Israeli settlement in Dura (Hebron) and behind the barrier in Qaffin (Tulkarm), and one when Israeli forces fired live ammunition toward a Palestinian trying to cross through breaches in the Barrier in Tulkarm to reach his workplace in Israel.
Overall, 94 Palestinians were treated for tear gas inhalation, 23 were shot with live ammunition, nine were injured by rubber bullets, nine were physically assaulted, one was pepper-sprayed, one was hit by a sound grenade, and one was hit by a tear gas canister. In a separate incident, on 10 November, an 11-year-old child was injured by the detonation of an unexploded ordnance (UXOs), after tampering with a munition he found near his house in Tell village (Nablus). The ordnance was reportedly fired by Israeli forces a day before during a military operation. (Not counted in the total)
Overall, Israeli forces conducted 110 search-and-arrest operations and detained 159 Palestinians, including at least seven children, across the West Bank. Between January and 21 November 2022, more than 500 Palestinians have been detained on average every month in the West Bank.

Israeli forces blocked the main entrances of four towns, disrupting the access of thousands of Palestinians to livelihoods and services. In two occasions, the Israeli army blocked with earth mounds two junctions in Area B of Huwwara town (Nablus), obstructing the movement of at least 7,000 Palestinians, reportedly in response to Palestinian stone-throwing at Israeli settler vehicles. On 15 November, Israeli forces restricted the movement of more than 9,000 Palestinians by closing the road gates at the entrances of Kifl Haris and Bruqin villages (Salfit) for one day and three hours, respectively; this took place in the aftermath of the Ariel settlement attack and following protests by Israeli settlers against the deteriorating security conditions in the area. On 20 November, the Israeli army re-closed the road gate at the main entrance of Azzun town (Qalqiliya) after one day of opening, hampering the movement of at least 11,000 Palestinians who are forced to take a 7-km detour to reach service centers in Qalqilya and Nablus. Over the past two months, the gate has been mostly closed, allegedly due to stone throwing by Palestinians toward Israeli settler vehicles travelling on Road 55.

The Israeli authorities demolished 33 Palestinian-owned structures and confiscated three others, in the West Bank, citing the lack of Israeli-issued building permits. As a result, 40 people, including 20 children, were displaced, and the livelihoods of more than 120 others were affected. Thirty-five of the targeted structures were located in Area C, including eight structures demolished based on the Israeli Military Order (1797), which provides only a 96-hour notice and very limited grounds for legally challenging a demolition. The other residential structure was demolished by the Jerusalem Municipality in Sur Bahir, displacing one household that comprises four people, including two children.

Israeli settlers injured eight Palestinians, including two children, in seven separate incidents; and people known or believed to be Israeli settlers caused damage to Palestinian property in 24 instances. On 15, 16 and 17 November, seven Palestinians, including one child were injured and twelve vehicles were damaged, including one vegetable truck set on fire, in five separate incidents after Israeli settlers threw stones toward Palestinian vehicles travelling on main roads near Beit Lid (Tulkarm), Kedumim settlement in Qalqilya, near Shavei Shomron and Yitzhar settlements in Nablus and at the entrance of Hebron city. In another 16 occasions during the reporting period, people known or believed to be Israeli settlers threw stones toward Palestinian vehicles across the West Bank, causing damage to 16 vehicles. On 18 November, a group of Israeli settlers, reportedly from the settler farm outposts near Rimonim settlement, accompanied by Israeli forces, physically assaulted, and injured a 14-year-old child whilst attacking Palestinians grazing their livestock near Al Mu’arrajat Center Bedouin community, east of Ramallah. According to community sources, a Palestinian medical team delivered first aid to the child, but Israeli forces detained both the child and the medical team until an Israeli ambulance arrived and transported the child to an Israeli hospital.
On three occasions on 18 and 19 November, about 35,000 Israeli settlers and other groups held a religious festival in the H2 area of Hebron city and were allowed to exit the checkpoints to reach the H1 area under Palestinian Authority control, where they attacked and caused damage to Palestinian properties. In three other incidents, Israeli settlers stole 170 olive saplings belonging to a Palestinian farmer from Al Mughayyir (Ramallah), vandalized some 100 olive trees after entering Palestinian land with their livestock in Mantiqat Shi'b al Butum (Hebron), and cut down nine trees, including four that were 15 years old, belonging to a Palestinian family from Qaryut (Nablus) in an area near Shilo settlement, access to which requires prior coordination with the Israeli military.
Finally, in seven separate incidents near Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), Kafr Thulth (Qalqiliya), Susiya, Tarqumiya, the H2 area of Hebron city (all in Hebron), and Al Mughayir (Ramallah), two donor-funded agricultural related structures, two water tanks, livestock, and stone fences were all damaged by settlers, according to eyewitnesses and local community sources.

Two Israeli settlers were injured and damage to at least six Israeli-plated vehicles was reported in six separate incidents, after people known or believed to be Palestinians threw stones at Israeli vehicles travelling on West Bank roads, according to Israeli sources.

In the Gaza Strip, on 17 November, 21 Palestinians from the same extended family, including 11 children, were killed when a fire broke out in a residential building in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. Unsafe practices contributed to the gravity of the incident, according to an investigation by the de-facto authorities. The limited operational capacity of the Palestinian Civil Defense, due to disagreements with the PA and the Israeli-imposed ban on essential materials, also contributed to the large number of deaths.

In the Gaza Strip, on at least 23 occasions, Israeli forces opened fire near Israel’s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions in areas within Gaza: no casualties were reported. On at least two occasions, Israeli military bulldozers leveled land 50 meters inside Gaza, near the perimeter fence east of Deir al-Balah.

This report reflects information available as of the time of publication. The most updated data and more breakdowns are available at ochaopt.org/data.