Protection of Civilians Report | 19 October - 1 November 2021

Latest developments

• On 2 November, four Palestinian families at risk of forced eviction by the Israeli authorities from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem rejected a proposal from the Israeli High Court of Justice that would have offered them protected tenancy status, while recognizing an Israeli settler organization’s ownership of the land, to which the Palestinian tenants would pay an annual lease fee.
• On 5 November, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Israeli forces shot and fatally wounded a Palestinian youth with live ammunition during protests near an Israeli settlement of Elon Moreh in the Nablus governorate.

Highlights from the reporting period

• Israeli forces injured 103 Palestinians across the West Bank. Fifty-six of them were wounded during regular protests against settlement activities near Beita (37) and Beit Dajan (19), in the Nablus governorate. Twenty others were injured in clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians protesting damage to graves by the Israeli authorities outside the Old City of Jerusalem. Those injured included ten from search-and-arrest operations in the Jenin and Hebron governorates, and in Qalandiya refugee camp (Jerusalem), and three others in clashes at checkpoints in Hebron and Nablus. Overall, five Palestinians were shot by live ammunition, 25 by rubber bullets, 12 were physically assaulted or hit by teargas canisters, and the rest were treated for teargas inhalation. In addition to those injured directly by Israeli forces, three Palestinians were reportedly injured while running away from Israeli forces, or in circumstances that could not be verified, in the villages of Beita and Beit Fajjar (Bethlehem). Additionally, an Israeli soldier was lightly injured by a stone thrown by a Palestinian in Hebron.
• Israeli forces carried out 79 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 109 Palestinians across the West Bank. The highest number of operations was in Bethlehem, followed by Jerusalem.
• On at least 27 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel’s perimeter fence and off the coast of Gaza, ostensibly to enforce access restrictions. No injuries were reported. Israeli forces also seized two Palestinian fishing boats and damaged a third off the Gaza coast, reportedly when they were within the permissible 15-Nautical-Mile fishing zone west of Rafah. Israeli military bulldozers levelled land inside Gaza, near the perimeter fence east of Khan Younis.
• The Israeli authorities demolished or seized 22 Palestinian-owned structures for lacking Israeli-issued building permits, displacing 13 people and otherwise affecting the livelihoods or access to services of over 1,400. Nine people were displaced in the Bedouin community of Hammamat Al Maleh - Al Meiteh in the Jordan Valley as a result of the demolition of seven structures on 1 November. Four were displaced in East Jerusalem. Over 1,100 people were cut off from access to piped water by the demolition destruction of a water network in Massafer Yatta (Hebron); the access of 120 people, including farmers and their families, to their land was undermined by the destruction of an agricultural road in Ya’bad (Jenin); and about 50 pupils were affected when parts of their school, which had been constructed with international funding, was confiscated in Hammamat al Maleh community (Tubas). Additionally, the Israeli authorities demolished a house and a stone wall and uprooted 90 olive trees in the Khallet al Louza area of Bethlehem, affecting the livelihoods of 66 people.
• Israeli settlers injured four Palestinians, and people known or believed to be Israeli settlers damaged or stole the harvest from at least 600 olive trees. In one incident, Israeli settlers pepper-sprayed three staff of the International Committee of the Red Cross while they visited Palestinian farmers in Burin. In the H2 area of Hebron, a boy was pepper-sprayed and a seven-year-old girl fell down and injured herself while being chased by settlers. The affected trees were in five locations, mostly in the vicinity of Israeli settlements including at least 380 trees whose harvest was stolen near Burin village in Nablus and near Nahhalin village in Bethlehem. At least 200 trees belonging to Palestinians from Turmus’ayya (Ramallah) were vandalized, as were 25 trees belonging to Palestinians from Al Ma’sara (Bethlehem). In the Nablus governorate, settlers reportedly stole agricultural tools used for harvesting olives in Khirbet Sarra and Jalud, and killed two sheep and injured five others in Beit Furik. Settlers also threw stones in the Silwan neighbourhood of East Jerusalem, causing damage to vehicles and houses. 
• People known or believed to be Palestinians threw stones at Israeli-plated vehicles in the Jerusalem, Nablus and Jericho governorates, injuring four settlers, including two boys. According to Israeli sources, stone-throwing damaged 30 Israeli-plated cars throughout the West Bank.