Protection of Civilians Report | 25 January - 7 February 2022

Latest Developments (after the reporting period)

• On 8 February, undercover Israeli forces entered Nablus city, where they shot and killed three Palestinian men in a car. The fatalities were members of an armed Palestinian group and had carried out attacks on Israeli forces, according to Israeli authorities cited by the Israeli media. Palestinians across the West Bank subsequently protested the killing, and a general strike was announced in some areas.

Highlights from the reporting period

• A total of 215 Palestinians, including 28 children, were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank. The majority, 204 people, were wounded during anti-settlement protests near Kafr Qaddum (70), Beita (15), and Beit Dajan (119). Eleven Palestinians were injured in six search-and-arrest operations, as Palestinian residents threw stones and Israeli forces shot teargas canisters and rubber bullets; these incidents occurred in Kafr 'Aqab (Jerusalem), in Deir Jarir and Al Am’ari refugee camp (Ramallah) and in Jericho city. Overall, one Palestinian was injured by live ammunition and 49 by rubber bullets; most of the remainder were treated for inhaling teargas.
• On 1 February, the Israeli Attorney General authorized the re-establishment of the evacuated Israeli settlement of Evyatar, on land privately-owned by Palestinians, near the Palestinian village of Beita (Nablus). Since regular protests against Evyatar outpost and other settlements began in early May 2021 near Beita, nine Palestinians have been killed and over 5,300 have been injured, including 186 by live ammunition and 965 by rubber bullets; the rest were treated for inhaling teargas.
• On 6 February, an elderly Israeli woman died of wounds she sustained from Palestinian rocket fire during the May 2021 escalation of hostilities.
• Israeli forces carried out 70 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 126 Palestinians across the West Bank. Bethlehem, Hebron and Jerusalem governorates accounted for the highest portion of the operations and arrests. In two incidents, Israeli police raided Al Waqf offices, an Islamic organization, confiscated office equipment, including computers, and handed out orders prohibiting two Palestinians from entering the Haram al Sharif/Temple Mount compound for two weeks.
• The Israeli authorities demolished. confiscated or forced owners to demolish 53 Palestinian-owned homes and other structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, citing the lack of Israeli-issued building permits. As a result, 26 people were displaced, including thirteen children, and the livelihoods of about 400 others were affected. Overall fifty structures, five of which had been provided as humanitarian assistance in response to previous demolitions, were demolished in Area C. On 1 February, 30 market stalls were confiscated near Al Jalama checkpoint in Jenin, affecting the livelihood of 120 people, including 45 children. Twenty more structures, including seven residential ones, were demolished in eight different communities in Area C. Three structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including two homes by their owners, in Silwan and Jabal al Mukabbir, to avoid municipal fees and possible damage to personal belongings and to nearby structures. The Israeli authorities issued demolition orders against one kindergarten and one residential structure in Khirbet Sarura and Khirbet al Fakheit, both in Massafer Yatta (Hebron), an area that had been designated by Israeli authorities as a “firing zone” for military training and where Palestinian face a coercive environment putting them at risk of forcible transfer. 
• On 1 February, the Israeli authorities partially demolished an apartment and sealed off the rest of it, displacing a Palestinian household comprising six people, including three children, in Shu’fat refugee camp (East Jerusalem). This punitive measure followed the killing of an Israeli man in the Old City of Jerusalem by a family member in November 2021, who was shot and killed on the spot by Israeli forces. 
• Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians in two incidents, and people known or believed to be Israeli settlers damaged Palestinian property in 20 instances across the West Bank. On 4 February, an Israeli settler in Sheikh Jarrah (East Jerusalem) physically assaulted and injured a Palestinian man during a demonstration against forced evictions and demolitions. On 3 February, Israeli settlers physically assaulted, and pepper sprayed a 14-year-old boy while he was grazing sheep near the Israeli settlement of Havat Gal (Hebron). About 140 Palestinian-owned trees and saplings were uprooted or vandalized in six incidents near Israeli settlements in Bruqin, Yasuf and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), as well as in Mantiqat Shi'b al Butum and Al Ganoub (Hebron). In three incidents, Palestinians reported that settlers had grazed livestock on land belonging to Palestinians from Khirbet Samra (Tubas) causing damage to their crops. In another three incidents, settlers threw stones at Palestinian farmers and prevented them from grazing livestock in Kisan and Khirbet Zanuta (Hebron); attackers also killed a sheep and injured another four. A water facility and a farm were vandalized in Kafr ad Dik (Salfit) and Qaryut (Nablus), when Israeli settlers raided these communities. In the H2 area of Hebron city, settlers stoned pedestrians and Palestinian shops, damaging at least five vehicles and three shops some of the shops had to close for several days due to the repeated stone-throwing.
• In 21 incidents across the West Bank, people known or believed to be Palestinians threw stones at Israeli-plated vehicles, injuring one Israeli settler and causing damage to the vehicles. 
• In Kardala area of the northern Jordan Valley, on 7 February, Israeli forces conducted military trainings in an area designated as a ‘firing zone’ around the herding community of Kardala (Tubas), killing two cows, injuring three others, and disrupting the community’s access to services. 
• In Gaza, on at least 43 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel’s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions. On one occasion, Israeli forces levelled land near the fence inside Gaza, east of Khan Younis. In three incidents, five Palestinian men from Gaza were arrested by Israeli forces reportedly while attempting to irregularly exit into Israel through the fence. Most Palestinians in the blockaded enclave are not eligible to apply for Israeli exit permits, even when their destination is the West Bank, rather than Israel.