Protection of Civilians Report | 22 November – 5 December 2022

Latest Developments (outside the reporting period)

• According to initial information from local community and media sources, six Palestinians including two children were killed between 7 and 11 December. On 7 December, a Palestinian man reportedly opened fire toward an Israeli military post near Ofra settlement. Following a chase and an exchange of fire, he was killed by Israeli forces (Ramallah). On 8 December, an exchange of fire took place between Israeli forces and Palestinians in Jenin refugee camp, during which three Palestinians were killed. On the same day, Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian child during confrontations near Abud village (Ramallah). On 11 December, a 15-year-old Palestinian girl was killed by live ammunition during a search and arrest operation that involved an exchange of fire between Israeli forces and Palestinians in Jenin City (Jenin).

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

Highlights from the reporting period

• Thirteen Palestinians and two Israelis were killed, and 307 Palestinians and 21 Israelis were injured in the occupied Palestinian territory and in West Jerusalem during the reporting period. Measured as a monthly average, 2022 has been the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank since the United Nations started recording fatalities systematically in 2005.
• Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians during search and arrest operations, and one died of wounds sustained during an earlier operation. On 23 November, a Palestinian man succumbed to wounds sustained on 24 July during a search-and-arrest operation and an exchange of fire between Israeli forces and Palestinians in the Old City of Nablus. On 28 November, a Palestinian man was killed by Israeli forces whilst standing outside his home when confrontations erupted between Palestinians and Israeli forces during a search and arrest operation in Beit Ummar town (Hebron). During the same incident, 18 Palestinians were injured including nine with live ammunition, one ambulance sustained damage, and Israeli forces raided a clinic and arrested a doctor who was treating the injured. On 29 November, two Palestinians (brothers) were killed by live ammunition, four were injured, and four were detained by Israeli forces when confrontations erupted during a search and arrest operation in Kafr Ein village (Ramallah). Initial information indicates that one of the brothers was holding a Molotov cocktail at the time he was shot. On 30 November, a Palestinian man (bystander) was killed, another was injured, and one was detained by Israeli forces during a search and arrest operation in Ya’bad town (Jenin) that involved an exchange of fire. On 1 December, two Palestinians affiliated with Islamic Jihad and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades were killed, two were injured, and four were detained during an exchange of fire between Palestinians and undercover Israeli forces carrying out a search and arrest operation in Jenin refugee camp. On 5 December, a Palestinian man was killed by live ammunition fired by Israeli forces during a search-and-arrest operation in Ad Duheisha refugee camp (Bethlehem). 
• Israeli forces killed five Palestinians in four additional incidents across the West Bank. On 22 November, Israeli forces shot and killed a 16-year-old Palestinian boy, and injured 110 Palestinians including ten with live ammunition, during confrontations involving stone throwing and an exchange of fire between Palestinians and Israeli forces that erupted when dozens of Israeli settlers entered Joseph’s Tomb site in Nablus City. On 23 November, a Palestinian man died of wounds sustained during the same incident. On 29 November, a Palestinian man ran over and injured an Israeli female soldier near Kochav Ya’akov settlement, north of Jerusalem; he was subsequently pursued and killed by Israeli forces near a checkpoint leading to Ramallah City. Also on 29 November, a Palestinian man was killed by live ammunition fired by Israeli forces during confrontations in Al Mughayyir village (Ramallah) that erupted when Israeli forces were delivering demolition orders against Palestinian-owned structures. On 2 December, a Palestinian man was killed by an Israeli Border Police officer in Huwwara town (Nablus). Video footage shows the Israeli officer holding a Palestinian in a headlock and two other men trying to release him. The officer moves away holding the Palestinian man who grips the officer’s rifle, which then falls to the ground, and is shot four times by the officer with his pistol. Both Palestinian and Israeli sources report that the Palestinian man was initially shot by an Israeli driving through Huwwara. According to Israeli sources, the man had sought to break into an Israeli car before the driver (an off-duty soldier) shot him, after which the Palestinian man stabbed another member of Israeli forces. According to Palestinian eyewitnesses, the man engaged in an altercation with an Israeli settler sitting in a car, tried to open the door of the vehicle, and then was shot and injured by the settler. After the second shooting, witnesses add, the man was prevented medical treatment for about 20 minutes. Subsequent clashes between Palestinian stone throwers and Israeli forces in Huwwara resulted in the injury of 16 Palestinians.
• Two Israelis were killed in West Jerusalem. On 23 November, as reported by Magen David Adom, a 15-year-old Israeli boy was killed and 14 others were injured when two devices exploded near bus stops in West Jerusalem and near Ramot settlement in East Jerusalem in a suspected Palestinian attack. One of the injured Israelis died of his wounds on 26 November. 
• In total, 299 Palestinians, including at least 17 children, were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank. The majority of injuries (177 or 59 per cent) were recorded in Nablus governorate. Overall, 203 Palestinians were treated for teargas inhalation, 45 were injured by rubber bullets, 34 were shot with live ammunition, ten were pepper-sprayed, three were physically assaulted, three were injured with shrapnel, and one was hit by a teargas canister. Among the injured, 136 were in incidents involving Israeli settlers, 93 in military operations and clashes including search and arrest operations, 68 in demonstrations against settlement expansion and settlement-related access restrictions, one in a demolition incident, and one whilst trying to cross through an unofficial opening in the Barrier to reach his workplace in Israel. In one of the incidents, on 24 November, Israeli forces shot and injured 19 Palestinian students from the Palestine Technical University in Tulkarm City, including three with live ammunition, when clashes broke out at the nearby Barrier checkpoint. In addition, two Israeli Border Police officers were injured when Palestinians threw stones and improvised explosive devices at Israeli forces at the entrance to Ayda refugee camp (Bethlehem).
• Eight Palestinians and four Israeli settlers injured in settler-related incidents. In addition to 136 Palestinians injured by Israeli forces in settler-related incidents, eight Palestinians were injured by Israeli settlers. On 23 November, Israeli settlers physically assaulted and injured a Palestinian woman near Khallet Sakariya (Bethlehem). On 24 November, a Palestinian man was injured when Israeli settlers threw stones at his vehicle in Huwwara town (Nablus). On 29 November, a three-year-old Palestinian child, a pregnant woman and two other Palestinians were injured (one by a stone and three by pepper spray) when Israeli settlers broke into Al Mughayyir village and threw stones at Palestinian houses and vehicles. Earlier on the same day, Israeli settlers, reportedly from Adei Ad settlement, attacked Palestinian farmers from Al Mughayyir, injured one Palestinian, and took over harvesting equipment in an area where farmers’ access requires prior coordination with the Israeli military. On 1 December, Israeli settlers physically assaulted and injured a 17-year-old child in the H2 area of Hebron City. During the reporting period, people known or believed to be Palestinian threw stones at Israeli vehicles travelling on roads in Ramallah and Jerusalem governorates, injuring four Israeli settlers and causing damage to vehicles.
• Israeli forces set up closures around one town and blocked the main entrances of four villages, disrupting access of thousands of Palestinians to livelihoods and services. On 22 November, the Israeli army has erected earth mounds at two junctions in Area B of Huwwara town (Nablus), obstructing the movement of at least 7,000 Palestinians for five days, reportedly in response to Palestinian stone-throwing at Israeli settler vehicles. On 22, 25 and 30 November, the Israeli army restricted the movement of more than 12,000 Palestinians by blocking the entrances of Majdal Bani Fadil and Qusra villages (both in Nablus) for two days each, and by closing the road gates at the entrance of Haris village (Salfit), for three hours, reportedly in response to Palestinian stone-throwing at Israeli settler vehicles. On 3 December, the Israeli army blocked the entrance of Osarin village (Nablus), obstructing the movement of at least 2000 Palestinians, following the Huwwara incident (see above). Since the beginning of 2022, nearly 70 permanent or temporary new closures have been reported across the West Bank.
• The Israeli authorities demolished, confiscated, or forced people to demolish 58 structures, including 10 residential homes and one school, for lacking Israeli-issued building permits. Five of the structures were provided by donors as humanitarian assistance. As a result, 47 Palestinians, including 27 children, were displaced, and the livelihoods of more than 160 others were affected. Fifty-six of the targeted structures were in Area C, including five structures demolished based on Military Order 1797, which provides only a 96-hour notice and very limited grounds for legally challenging a demolition. In addition, two structures were demolished by their owners in East Jerusalem to avoid the payment of fines to the Israeli authorities.
• One donor-funded school was demolished, and another had a demolition order issued against it in Hebron. On 23 November, the Israeli authorities demolished Isfey Al Faqua donor-funded school, which served 21 students from three communities in southern Hebron. Isfey Al Fauqa is one of 13 herding communities comprising about 1,150 people, half of whom are children, in an area designated by the Israeli authorities as ‘Firing Zone 918’ in Masafer Yatta. On 29 November, the Israeli authorities issued a demolition order, with a 96-hour notice, against another donor-funded school in Khashem al Karem (Hebron). On 1 December, legal aid partners secured a court injunction against the demolition, which is valid for 21 days as long as no additional construction takes place at the school during this period.
• In the Gaza Strip, on at least 33 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel’s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions. As a result, three Palestinian fishers were injured, six were arrested, and two fishing boats were confiscated. Separately, on 3 December, one Palestinian man was arrested by Israeli forces while attempting to enter Israel without authorization through the perimeter fence. In addition, on 3 December, one rocket was fired from Gaza that landed in an open field in southern Israel; no injuries or damage were reported. Overnight, Israeli forces carried out air strikes on Gaza; no injuries were reported.