Protection of Civilians Report | 31 January - 13 February 2023

Highlights from the reporting period

This section is based on initial information from different sources. Further confirmed details will be provided in the next report.

• On 14 February, a Palestinian man succumbed to wounds sustained in January 2021, when an Israeli soldier shot him in the neck in Ar Rakeez community of Masafer Yatta (Hebron), as he was trying to prevent the confiscation of an electricity generator. 
• On 14 February, a Palestinian child was killed by Israeli forces in a search-and-arrest operation in Al Far’a refugee camp (Tubas), where an exchange of fire with Palestinians was reported.

Highlights from the reporting period

• Israeli forces killed six Palestinians and injured eleven with live ammunition in two operations that involved exchange of fire with Palestinians, one in Jericho and another in Nablus. On 6 February, Israeli forces raided Aqbat Jaber refugee camp (Jericho), where they surrounded a building and exchanged fire with Palestinians. According to Israeli media, at least five Palestinians were killed, and their bodies were withheld; another four were injured and arrested. According to medical sources, Israeli forces opened fire and damaged at least two ambulances, preventing them from operating inside the camp. According to the Israeli Military, cited by Israeli media, the operation was carried out to arrest Palestinians suspected of carrying out a shooting attack near an Israeli settlement on 28 January, following which Israeli forces restricted the movement of Palestinians in and out of Jericho city for ten days. In the same location, on 4 February, during another search and arrest operation, Israeli forces destroyed two structures, including a residential structure consisting of two housing units, and damaged an adjacent structure, resulting in the displacement of six people, including two children. During the same operation fourteen Palestinians were injured, including two with live ammunition and thirteen others were arrested. On 13 February, Israeli forces raided Nablus city, where they surrounded a building and exchanged fire with Palestinians inside. Two of the occupants were injured and subsequently arrested by Israeli forces. The operation lasted more than four hours, during which Israeli forces fired live ammunition, rubber bullets, and tear gas canisters towards Palestinians who gathered and threw stones at them. One Palestinian man, a bystander, was killed, and 80 others were injured, including five with live ammunition and the rest were treated for tear gas inhalation. According to medical sources, Israeli forces prevented ambulances from accessing the area and detained three medical volunteers for three hours.
• Israeli forces killed two Palestinian children during two search-and-arrest operations that involved exchange of fire with Palestinians in Nablus and Jenin. On 6 February, Israeli forces raided Nablus city, where they exchanged fire with Palestinians, killing a 17-year-old boy, who according to the Israeli military, had shot at them; an allegation disputed by eyewitness and human rights organizations. On 12 February, Israeli forces carried out a search-and-arrest operation in Jenin city, where they exchanged fire with Palestinians, killing a 14-year-old Palestinian boy; according to human rights organization the circumstances of the incident are still unclear. During the same incident two others were injured with live ammunition and three were arrested. This brings to nine the total number of Palestinian children killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank so far in 2023, compared to none in the equivalent period of 2022. 
• A Palestinian driver killed three Israelis, including two children, and injured another four, after ramming his car into them. On 10 February, two Israelis, including a six-year-old boy, were killed and five others were injured when a Palestinian man rammed his car into them as they stood at a bus stop in the Israeli settlement of Ramot in East Jerusalem. One of those injured, an eight-year-old child, died of his wounds the next day. The attacker was subsequently shot and killed by Israeli police. On 13 February, according to Israeli media, a 14-year-old Palestinian boy stabbed and injured a 17-year-old Israeli boy in the old city of Jerusalem, before fleeing the scene.
• Israeli forces killed two Palestinians, injuring two others, at or near Israeli checkpoints. On 3 February, Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man at Huwwara checkpoint (Nablus), alleging that he tried to attack an Israeli soldier. On 9 February, Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian, who Israeli authorities say tried to stab Israeli soldiers positioned at a military observation point near Al Fuwwar refugee camp (Hebron). No Israeli injuries were reported in the two incidents; and the bodies of both Palestinians have been withheld by the Israeli authorities, as at the end of the reporting period. 
• An Israeli police officer was killed at an Israeli checkpoint in East Jerusalem, in a Palestinian stabbing attack, after also being mistakenly shot by another member of Israeli forces. On 13 February, a 13-year-old Palestinian boy reportedly stabbed a border police officer at the Shu’fat refugee camp checkpoint in East Jerusalem, following which another member of Israeli forces tried to shoot the child but mistakenly hit the officer, who later died of his wounds. Subsequently, Israeli forces arrested the boy. 
• An Israeli settler shot and killed a Palestinian man with live ammunition in Salfit. On 11 February, a group of Israeli settlers, reportedly from the settlement of Yair Farm, trespassed into the village of Qarawat Bani Hassan where they confronted Palestinian men who were working in construction. According to eyewitnesses, Israeli settlers and Palestinians threw stones at each other, and one of the settlers shot and killed the Palestinian at close range. Israeli forces intervened and fired teargas canisters and rubber bullets at Palestinians, with no injuries reported. During the same incident, one Israeli settler was injured by a stone thrown by Palestinians, according to Israeli media. 
• An elderly Israeli man succumbed to wounds he sustained in a Palestinian attack in Israel. In May 2022, two Palestinians attacked Israelis with axes, killing three and injuring four. The man died on 2 February, bringing to four the number of fatalities in that incident.
• During the reporting period, 373 Palestinians, including at least 58 children, were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank, of whom 18 were shot with live ammunition. Of the injuries, 131 (35 per cent) occurred during demonstrations against settlement expansion and settlement-related access restrictions near Kafr Qaddum (Qalqilya), Beit Dajan, and Beita (both in Nablus). In another four incidents, in Qaryut and Asira al Qibliya (both in Nablus), 33 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces, following the trespassing of Israeli settlers into these Palestinian communities, accompanied by Israeli forces. Another 177 injuries occurred during search-and-arrest operations and other operations carried out by Israeli forces. Moreover, Israeli forces injured 30 Palestinians during a demolition in Jabal al Mukabbir area of East Jerusalem; on 31 January, Palestinian residents of Jabal al Mukabbir declared a one-day strike to protest a recent uptrend in the demolition of structures by the Israeli authorities in the area. The remaining two injuries occurred at checkpoints. Overall, 313 Palestinians were treated for teargas inhalation, 18 were shot with live ammunition, 24 were injured with rubber bullets, six were physically assaulted, two were pepper-sprayed, five were hit by  sound grenade canisters, and five were hit by a tear gas canisters.
• Israeli settlers injured six Palestinians, including at least one child, in four incidents, and people known or believed to be settlers damaged Palestinian property in another 16 instances (in addition to the Palestinian who was killed by a settler and the 33 Palestinians injured by Israeli forces in the abovementioned settler-related incidents). On 2 and 10 February, two Palestinians, including a 14-year-old boy, were injured when Israeli settlers pepper-sprayed them in Huwwara and Jalud (Nablus). On 10 February, Israeli settlers threw stones at Palestinians and their livestock in Qarawat Bani Hassan (Salfit), injuring two Palestinians. On 11 February, Israeli settlers threw stones at Palestinians travelling on roads near Deir Sharaf (Nablus), injuring a man and damaging his vehicle. In two other incidents in Marda and Yasuf (both in Salfit), about 50 trees were vandalized on Palestinian lands, including near Israeli settlements, 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 settlers threw stones at Palestinian vehicles, damaging at least 35 of them. Other Palestinian property was damaged, and livestock was injured, in twelve incidents in or near Jenin, Ramallah, Salfit, Tubas, Hebron and Qalqiliya; properties included residential and agricultural structures, tractors, crops, and a water network, according to eyewitnesses and local community sources. 
• Three Israeli settlers were injured and damage to at least six Israeli-plated vehicles was reported after people known or believed to be Palestinians threw stones at Israeli vehicles travelling on West Bank roads. In one incident Palestinians set fire to a car in Kafr Ein (Ramallah), according to Israeli sources. In a separate incident, an Israeli plated vehicle was damaged with gunshots on Road 465 near Ramallah, with no injuries reported. 
• The Israeli authorities demolished, confiscated, or forced people to demolish 30 structures in East Jerusalem and Area C of the West Bank, including nine homes, citing the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, which are almost impossible to obtain. Two of the structures were provided by donors as humanitarian assistance. As a result, 55 Palestinians, including 31 children, were displaced, and the livelihoods of more than 100 others were affected. Seventeen (17) of the structures were in Area C, including two structures demolished in the Bedouin community of Zatara al Kurshan (Bethlehem) located in areas Israel has designated as ‘firing zones’ closed for military training, and where Palestinian communities are at risk of forcible transfer due to a coercive environment generated by Israeli policies and practices. The remaining thirteen structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including four destroyed by their owners, to avoid the payment of fines to the Israeli authorities. January 2023 accounted for the highest number of demolished structures in East Jerusalem in a single month since April 2019; with a total of 32 structures demolished, compared to a monthly average of eleven demolished in 2022.
• Israeli forces restricted the movement of Palestinians in several locations across the West Bank, disrupting access of thousands of Palestinians to livelihoods and services. Between 28 January and 6 February, the Israeli army deployed flying checkpoints at all the entrances/exits of Jericho city, including concrete blocks, obstructing the movement of at least 50,000 Palestinians for ten days, in response to a Palestinian shooting attack at an Israeli settlement south of Jericho, where no injuries were reported. On 6 February, the Israeli army restricted the movement of more than 7,000 Palestinians by placing earth mounds at a side road in Huwwara town (Nablus), reportedly in response to Palestinian stone-throwing at Israeli settler vehicles. On the same day, the Israeli army closed an agricultural road gate in Immatin village (Qalqilya), obstructing the movement of at least 50 farmers to their agricultural land. 
• In the Gaza Strip, on at least 34 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel’s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions; two fishermen were arrested and one fishing boat was confiscated, with no injuries or damage reported. Separately, two Palestinian men were arrested by Israeli forces while trying to enter Israel through the perimeter fence.
• On three occasions, Palestinian armed groups fired rockets and other projectiles towards Israel. Palestinian fire was recorded on 1, 11 and 13 February. Rockets were intercepted or fell in open areas in Gaza and Israel, and one Israeli woman was injured while running to a shelter. On 2 and 13 February, Israeli forces carried out airstrikes targeting military sites belonging to armed groups in the Gaza Strip. No injuries were reported.

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. During this reporting period, one member of Israeli forces who was killed in a Palestinian attack is counted separately as his cause of death remains unclear at the time of writing.