Protection of Civilians Report | 30 May - 12 June 2023

Latest Developments (after the reporting period)

• In two separate incidents on 13 and 14 June, Israeli forces shot and killed an autistic Palestinian man during a search-and-arrest operation in Balata refugee camp (Nablus), and another man during a punitive demolition operation in Nablus city. Both incidents reportedly occurred during exchanges of fire with Palestinians.

Highlights from the reporting period

• A two-year-old Palestinian was shot and killed by Israeli forces. On 1 June, an Israeli soldier shot and injured the child, as well as his father, with live ammunition; the boy succumbed to a head injury four days later. According to the Israeli military, as reported by the media, the soldier mistakenly identified the car where the father and the child were sitting as the source of a shooting attack towards a nearby Israeli settlement. Between 1 January and 12 June 2023, Israeli forces killed 21 Palestinian children in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, compared with 14 children killed during in the same period in 2022.
• On 9 June, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man at a checkpoint near Rantis (Ramallah). According to the Israeli military, its forces were inspecting a vehicle suspected as stolen when the driver allegedly tried to grab a soldier’s weapon and was shot and killed by another soldier. One member of Israeli forces was reportedly injured. The Palestinian’s body was withheld by the Israeli authorities. So far in 2023, 13 Palestinians have been shot and killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank and Israel while attacking or allegedly trying to attack Israeli soldiers. 
• On 30 May, an Israeli settler was shot and killed in a Palestinian drive-by shooting near the settlement of Hermesh (between Jenin and Tulkarm). This brings to 21 the number of Israelis killed by Palestinians or in Palestinian attacks so far in 2023 in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel, in addition to a foreign national, compared with a total of six in the equivalent period of 2022.
• A total of 382 Palestinians, including at least 34 children, were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank, including 15 injured with live ammunition. Of the injuries, 25 were reported during ten search-and-arrest operations. Another 60 injuries occurred in two incidents where Israeli forces raided Askar Refugee Camp (Nablus) and Nablus city to take the measurements of the family homes of two Palestinians, one accused of killing an Israeli mother and her two daughters, and another accused of killing a soldier; the measurements were taken in preparation for the buildings’ punitive demolition. In another incident, Israeli forces shot and injured two Palestinians, an adult, and a child, after raiding Aqabat Jaber refugee camp (Jericho) and issuing a punitive demolition order against a residential structure. Another 41 injuries, including eight children, were reported during a punitive demolition in the Old City of Ramallah (see more details below). 207 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces who were accompanying Israeli settlers who threw stones, set fire, and shot at Palestinians and their homes or other property in Burqa, Jalud (both in Nablus), Al Mazara’a Al Qibliyeh (Ramallah) and Kafr Thulth (Qalqiliya). Forty-seven (47) additional Palestinians were injured near Beit Dajan (Nablus), and Kafr Qaddum (Qalqilya) while demonstrating against access restrictions and settlement expansion. In another incident, Israeli forces shot and injured a Palestinian man who was trying to reach his worksite in Israel via an informal opening in the Barrier, near Habla (Qalqilya). In two separate incidents at checkpoints, Israeli forces physically assaulted and injured a Palestinian man from Hebron at the Huwwara checkpoint (Nablus), while at the Shu'fat Refugee Camp checkpoint in East Jerusalem, Israeli forces shot and injured a Palestinian man from Ramallah with five live bullets, allegedly for driving fast towards a checkpoint to enter East Jerusalem. Overall, 325 Palestinians were treated for teargas inhalation, 15 were shot with live ammunition, 35 were injured with rubber bullets, four sustained shrapnel injuries, one was physically assaulted and two were injured by sound grenades or teargas canisters. 
• Israeli settlers injured 17 Palestinians, including three with live ammunition, and people known or believed to be settlers damaged Palestinian property in another 25 instances across the West Bank. On 30 May, armed Israeli settlers, reportedly from the outpost of Ahiya, opened fire, threw stones, and tried to set fire to a Palestinian home in the Palestinian village of Jalud (Nablus). Seven Palestinians were injured with stones, and seven Palestinian houses and two vehicles were vandalized. The settlers were accompanied by Israeli forces, who fired rubber bullets and teargas canisters, injuring another five Palestinians. On 4 June, Israeli settlers, reportedly from the outpost of Homesh, injured 145 Palestinians, the majority were treated for teargas inhalation, in the village of Burqa, where they also damaged at least three houses, three vehicles, one barracks, and a livelihood structure. Palestinians threw stones at them, injuring three, according to the Israeli media. After Israeli forces intervened, four Palestinians were injured with live ammunition, and three with rubber bullets, and 137 required medical treatment for teargas inhalation. On 3 June, two Palestinians, including a woman, were physically assaulted and injured after Israeli settlers entered the Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem, attacking residents and damaging homes with stones. On 12 June, in the neighborhood of Ras Al ‘Amud, also in East Jerusalem, settlers physically assaulted and injured a man. On 8 and 7 June, Israeli settlers, reportedly from the outpost of Haresha, accompanied by Israeli forces, physically assaulted and sprayed pepper gas injuring three Palestinians, including a woman, in Al Mazra’a Al Qibliya (Ramallah), and damaged with stones at least six vehicles. During the same incident, another 15 Palestinians received medical treatment after inhaling tear gas fired by forces. According to community sources, more than 150 trees and saplings were vandalized during the reporting period on Palestinian land near Israeli settlements, in six incidents. According to local sources and eyewitnesses, in eleven incidents in Duma, Yanun, Deir Sharaf, Madama and Burqa (all in Nablus), Ad Deir (Tubas), Kafr as Dik (Salfit), Al Mughayyir (Ramallah), Khallet Sakariya (Bethlehem), settlers set fire to crops, broke into houses and farmlands and threw stones causing damage to at least nine residentials and four agricultural structures, three tractors, vandalized two water networks and 16 vehicles, and causing injury of livestock, according to eyewitnesses and local community sources. In two additional incidents, Israeli settlers reportedly from Micha settlement outpost attacked agricultural land in Ein Samiya (Ramallah) of Palestinians farmers; settlers threw stones at farmers and vandalized a water irrigation system serving more than 100 dunums of cultivated land, two water tanks, four agricultural structures, a donor-funded latrine, and at least 15 trees, affecting the livelihood of at least 14 Palestinian households. In another eight incidents, people known or believed to be Israeli settlers threw stones and vandalized 14 Palestinian vehicles travelling on roads across the West Bank. 
• One Israeli settler was killed (see above), while another sustained injuries in a shooting attack. Additionally, five others were injured in incidents of stone throwing across the West Bank. On 6 June, one Israeli settler was injured, and his car sustained damages after perpetrators believed to be Palestinians shot his vehicle while driving between Za’tara and Huwwara checkpoints (Nablus). Israeli forces launched a manhunt and set up checkpoints, obstructing access and movement of Palestinians in and out of the area (see below). In three other incidents, on 31 May, 2 and 8 June, Palestinians threw stones at Israeli vehicles near Bethlehem, Jericho, and Jerusalem, resulting in the injury of four settlers and damage to three vehicles. Additionally, in another two incidents, near Ramallah and Nablus, people believed to be Palestinians threw stones at Israeli vehicles, causing damage to two vehicles, according to Israeli sources. 
• Three members of Israeli forces were injured in Palestinian attacks. On 2 June, an Israeli soldier was injured in a shooting attack by a perpetrator believed to be Palestinian near the Deir Sharaf village (Nablus). On 5 June, another two Israeli soldiers were injured in a ramming attack in Huwwara town (Nablus) by a perpetrator believed to be Palestinian. Subsequently, following both attacks, Israeli forces conducted search-and-arrest operations around Nablus city, hindering the movement of residents. One Palestinian man accused of carrying out the ramming attack was arrested. 
• Imminent forced eviction in East Jerusalem. Following legal proceedings initiated by an Israeli settler organization, an elderly Palestinian couple is at imminent risk of being forcibly evicted from their home in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. An estimated 970 Palestinians, including 424 children, are at risk of forced eviction in East Jerusalem – a practice incompatible with international law - due to similar proceedings. Fifteen of the at-risk families are in the Old City. 
• The Israeli authorities demolished, confiscated, or forced people to demolish 14 structures in East Jerusalem and Area C of the West Bank, including five homes, citing the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, which are almost impossible to obtain. As a result, 44 Palestinians, including 19 children, were displaced, and the livelihoods of 70 others were affected. Two of the affected structures in Tatrit community, in Hebron, were provided by donors as humanitarian assistance in response to a previous demolition. During that incident, Israeli forces bulldozed agricultural land and damaged a wall, metal fences, a water network and 55 olive trees. Half of the affected structures (seven) were in Area C. And the remaining seven structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including two residential structures in the Wadi Qaddum area of Silwan, resulting in the displacement of six households comprising 31 people, including 22 children. Five out of the eight structures demolished in East Jerusalem were destroyed by their owners to avoid the payment of fines to the Israeli authorities. Additionally (not counted above), during an Israeli military operation in Nur Shams refugee camp (Tulkarm) in Area A of the West Bank, Israeli forces destroyed a commercial structure, affecting the livelihoods of seven people.
• On 8 June, Israeli forces raided Ramallah city in Area A of the West Bank and demolished with explosives the second floor of a multi-story residential building. This was a punitive demolition of the family home of a Palestinian man accused of killing two Israelis and injuring others in November 2022. One household, comprising six people, including a child, was displaced, and two households were affected by the damage caused to neighboring homes. During the operation, 41 Palestinians were injured, including eight children and one journalist, who was admitted to hospital with a fractured skull. Palestinians reportedly threw stones and explosive items at Israeli forces and the latter used live ammunition and rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas. Since the beginning of 2023, 12 homes and one agricultural structure have been demolished on punitive grounds, compared with 14 structures in 2022 and three in 2021. Punitive demolitions are a form of collective punishment and as such are illegal under international law.
• On 12 June, Israeli forces displaced for eight hours a household of eight people from the herding community of Ibziq (Jordan Valley), citing military training purposes. This community is in an Israeli-declared ‘firing zone’ and at high risk of forcible transfer. ‘Firing zones’ cover almost 30 per cent of Area C and are home to 38 communities comprising 6,200 people.
• Closures across the West Bank continue to disrupt the access of thousands of Palestinians to livelihoods and services. On 6, 7 and 12 June, the Israeli military erected earth mounds at the entrances to Beita and Odala villages (both in Nablus) and Ya’bad (Jenin), obstructing the movement of at least 32,000 Palestinians. The latter earth mound was removed after two days while the Beita and Odala ones are still in place as of the end of the reporting period. These closures were reportedly in response to a shooting incident against Israeli settler vehicles that led to the injury of one settler and three members of Israeli forces (see above). In the H2 area of Hebron city, a total of seven flying checkpoints were reported, up from a biweekly average of two since the beginning of 2023, leading to long delays. Additionally, Palestinian access to Al Mughayyir village (Ramallah) has been restricted for the eighteenth day, as of the end of the reporting period, leading to long waiting times for commuters due to intensive inspections at the entrance of the village. For the seventh week, Israeli forces closed the road gate installed at the entrance of Tuqu’ village (Bethlehem), restricting the movement of about 4,500 people, and forcing residents and others to use alternative dirt roads and long detours to access clinics, schools, and markets.
• In the Gaza Strip, in at least 31 incidents, Israeli forces opened “warning fire” near Israel’s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions. No injuries or damage were reported, although the work of farmers and fishermen was disrupted. On five occasions, Israeli military bulldozers leveled land inside Gaza near the perimeter fence in Gaza, Khan Younis, Gaza North and the Middle Area.

Footnotes

1 Palestinians killed or injured by people who are not members of Israeli forces, e.g., by Israeli civilians or with Palestinian rockets falling short, as well as those whose immediate cause of death or the perpetrator’s identity remain disputed, unclear, or unknown, are counted separately.

2 Israeli casualties in these charts include people who were injured while running to shelters during Palestinian rocket attacks. Foreign nationals killed in Palestinian attacks and people whose immediate cause of death or the perpetrator’s identity remain disputed, unclear, or unknown, are counted separately