Protection of Civilians Report | 20 December 2022 – 9 January 2023

This report exceptionally covers three weeks.

Latest Developments (outside the reporting period)

• On 16 January, Israeli forces conducted a search-and-arrest operation in Ad Duheisheh refugee camp (Bethlehem), where they shot a child who died shortly after from his wounds.
• On 15 January, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man at a flying checkpoint at the entrance of Silwad (Ramallah).
• On 14 January, Israeli forces killed two Palestinian men at the entrance of Jaba’ (Jenin); according to initial information from media sources, an exchange of fire was reported. On the same day, another Palestinian man succumbed to wounds sustained on 2 January in Kafr Dan (Jenin).
• On 12 January, Israeli forces carried out a search-and-arrest operation in Qalandia refugee camp (Jerusalem) where they shot and killed a Palestinian man.
• On 12 January, Israeli forces carried out a military operation in Qabatiya town (Jenin), where an exchange of fire with Palestinians took place; two Palestinian men were killed.
• On 11 January, a Palestinian man stabbed and injured an Israeli settler and was shot and killed by another settler in a new settlement farm in southern Hebron.
• On 11 January, Israeli forces carried out a military operation in Balata refugee camp (Nablus) and killed one Palestinian man in an exchange of fire with Palestinians.

(More details will be provided on the above-mentioned incidents in the next report)

Highlights from the reporting period

• On 21 December, Israeli forces killed a 23-year-old Palestinian man in Nablus city, near Joseph’s Tomb. The Israeli forces raided the city to make way for hundreds of Israeli settlers to enter the site. Israeli forces set up sniper posts on rooftops. Palestinians protested these activities, including by throwing stones and burning tires; exchanges of fire were also reported. One Palestinian was shot and killed and 35 were injured, including three with live ammunition fired by Israeli forces; one ambulance was damaged during an attempt to evacuate the wounded, and three Palestinians were arrested. This brings to seven the total number of Palestinians killed in 2022 by Israeli forces while accompanying Israeli settlers to this site.
• Israeli forces killed another four Palestinians, including three children, and injured twelve others in Jenin, Bethlehem, and Nablus. On 2 January, Israeli forces raided Kafr Dan village (Jenin) and used explosives to punitively demolish the homes of two Palestinians who, on 14 September, killed an Israeli soldier at Al Jalama military checkpoint in Jenin and were subsequently killed in the exchange of fire. During the operation in Kafr Dan, that lasted for more than 24 hours, Israeli forces shot live ammunition and teargas canisters, and Palestinians shot live ammunition and threw stones and Molotov cocktails. Two Palestinians, aged 22 and 17, were shot and killed, and ten others were injured, including six with live ammunition. On 3 and 5 January, Israeli forces conducted search-and-arrest operations in the refugee camps of Ad Duheisha (Bethlehem) and Balata (Nablus). Both operations evolved into confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli forces, including an exchange of fire in the latter incident. As a result, a 15 and 16-year-old boys were killed. Two others were injured with live ammunition and three people were arrested. During the reporting period, Israeli forces carried out 202 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 315 Palestinians, including at least 30 children.
• In total, 394 Palestinians, including at least 40 children, were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank. Of the injuries, 210 (55 per cent) were recorded in eleven demonstrations. These included 205 injuries reported in demonstrations against settlement expansion and settlement-related access restrictions near Kafr Qaddum (Qalqilya), Beit Dajan (Nablus), and Umm ad Daraj southern Hebron. Five injuries were reported in other demonstrations in solidarity with the family of a Palestinian prisoner who had died in Israeli custody on 20 December, and in demand of Israeli authorities to hand over the bodies of the Palestinians killed and withheld by Israeli forces. Thirty-four other injuries were in the abovementioned incident near Joseph’s Tomb; 140 were in search-and-arrest operations and other operations carried out by Israeli forces; and ten were during a punitive demolition in Kafr Dan (Jenin) (see below). Overall, 318 Palestinians were treated for teargas inhalation, 36 were shot with live ammunition, 21 were injured by rubber bullets, five were physically assaulted, one was hit by a sound grenade, four by tear gas canisters, and nine by shrapnel. 
• Israeli settlers injured twenty Palestinians, including five children, and seven women in eight incidents, and people known or believed to be Israeli settlers caused damage to Palestinian property in another 24 instances. In addition to the 35 Palestinians injured by Israeli forces in the abovementioned settler-related incident in Joseph’s Tomb, 13 Palestinians, including an 18-month-old baby and two other children, were injured directly by Israeli settlers in four incidents on 23, 28 and 29 December, on main roads near Huwwara town and Osarin village (both in Nablus), where settlers threw stones at Palestinian vehicles. On 20 December, two children were physically assaulted and injured when Israeli settlers entered a public park in Al Mazra’a al Qabaliya village (Ramallah) and physically assaulted children, including with sticks. On 25 December, 7 and 9 January, in Wadi al Joz area of East Jerusalem and in Khallet al Louza (Bethlehem), Israeli settlers physically assaulted Palestinians, including with sticks, injuring four of them, including two women, and reportedly damaging at least three Palestinian homes and vehicles. In eight other incidents, near Sinjil and Al Mughayir (both in Ramallah), Jit, Kafr Thulth, Immatin, Azzun, and Hajja (all in Qalqiliya), and Mantiqat Shi’b al Butum (Hebron), some 400 olive trees were vandalized on Palestinian land near Israeli settlements, including in areas where Palestinian access requires approval from the Israeli military (commonly referred to as “prior coordination”). In another seven occasions, people known or believed to be Israeli settlers threw stones at Palestinian vehicles, damaging at least ten of them. Other Palestinian property was damaged in ten incidents in or near Nablus, H2 area of Hebron, Tulkarm, and Salfit; this included agricultural structures, stone and metal fences, and surveillance cameras and crops, according to eyewitnesses and local community sources.
• One Israeli settler and one Israeli paramedic were injured and damage to at least five Israeli-plated vehicles in five incidents, when people known or believed to be Palestinians reportedly threw stones at Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads, according to Israeli sources. The incidents took place on roads next Bethlehem, Ramallah, and Jerusalem.
• The Israeli authorities demolished, confiscated, or forced people to demolish 66 structures in East Jerusalem and Area C of the West Bank, including eleven homes, citing the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, which are almost impossible to obtain. Twenty-one of the structures were provided by donors as humanitarian assistance. As a result, 53 Palestinians, including 21 children, were displaced, and the livelihoods of more than 700 others were affected. Sixty-one of the structures were in Area C, including three structures demolished based on Military Order 1797, which provides only a 96-hour notice and very limited grounds for legally challenging a demolition. The remaining five structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three that were destroyed by their owner, to avoid the payment of fines to the Israeli authorities. On a separate incident, on 27 December, the Israeli authorities confiscated two water containers and two agricultural tractors, owned by the herding community of Hammamat al Maleh in the Jordan valley (Tubas) while they were collecting water from the Ein al Hilweh water spring. The spring, which is a main water source for domestic and livestock consumption in the area, is located on land designated as a ‘firing zone’ for Israeli military training, and where Palestinian access is prohibited by the Israeli authorities. Hammamat al Maleh is one of the most vulnerable communities in the West Bank, with limited access to education and health services, and to water, sanitation, and electricity infrastructure. 
• On 2 January 2023, Israeli forces raided Kafr Dan village (Jenin), in Area B, and punitively demolished two multi-floored homes and an agricultural structure belonging to families whose members killed an Israeli soldier in September 2022. Neighboring homes were damaged. The displaced families comprise 17 people, including two children. Two Palestinians were killed during the operation (see above). In 2022, eleven homes and three other structures were demolished on punitive grounds, compared with three in 2021. Punitive demolitions are a form of collective punishment as they target the families of a perpetrator, or alleged perpetrator and as such are illegal under international law.
• Israeli forces blocked the main entrances of three villages, disrupting access of thousands of Palestinians to livelihoods and services. On 23 and 24 December and on 8 January, the Israeli army restricted the movement of more than 15,000 Palestinians by closing the road gates at the entrances of Azzun (Qalqiliya), Madama (Nablus) and Tuqu’ (Bethlehem). The former location was closed for a few hours while the latter two remained closed through the end of the reporting period. All closures were implemented reportedly in response to Palestinian stone-throwing at Israeli settler vehicles. 
• In the Gaza Strip, on at least 50 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel’s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions; a house sustained minor damage, and no one was injured. On two occasions, Israeli military bulldozers leveled lands inside Gaza, near the perimeter fence, east of Gaza city and east of Khan Younis. In a separate incident, Israeli forces arrested a Palestinian man from Gaza as he exited through Erez crossing. On 3 January, one rocket was reportedly launched from the Gaza Strip, landing near the perimeter fence inside the enclave, with no injuries or damages reported.