The United Nations recorded an increase in the rate of demolishing Palestinian homes in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem, and settler attacks on unarmed Palestinian citizens, as the occupation municipality and the army demolished 25 homes of Palestinian citizens within two weeks, warning of the repercussions on this. The humanitarian and social situation and the high rate of violence due to the exacerbation of settler attacks.
The United Nations said in the bi-monthly protection report / Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OCHA) issued by its office in occupied East Jerusalem yesterday evening: “Under the pretext of lacking building permits, the Israeli occupation authorities demolished 25 buildings or forced their owners to demolish them in Area C and East Jerusalem, which resulted in the displacement of 32 Palestinians and damage to about 160 others.
The report stated that since the beginning of the year, 20 Palestinians have been killed, when two Palestinians, one of them a child, were shot dead by the occupation forces and three others were wounded in two separate incidents in the West Bank. On August 17th, the occupation forces shot and killed a 30-year-old Palestinian after he stabbed and wounded a member of the (Israeli Border Guard) police at one of the doors of Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem, and the Israeli forces imposed restrictions on movement inside the Old City. This prevented the medical teams from reaching the area where the attacker was shot, according to Palestinian medical sources. In addition, a Palestinian woman was passing by by a stray bullet. In a separate event in Deir Abu Mishaal (Ramallah), a 16-year-old Palestinian boy was killed and two other children were injured on August 19. The occupation authorities are still holding their bodies.
Four other Palestinians were injured in four search and arrest operations carried out in the Tulkarm and Ramallah governorates and in East Jerusalem, out of 153 operations recorded in various parts of the West Bank during the period covered by this report. In addition, a Palestinian was injured by shrapnel of a box that exploded when he touched it, as it was located near an area where the weekly demonstrations take place in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqilya). This box was one of three canisters found on the road leading to the site of the demonstrations and near a public park, where Israeli media indicated that it was placed by Israeli forces. Two other Palestinians were injured, one after he reportedly threw a Molotov cocktail near Bethlehem, and the other after it was suspected that he was carrying a knife at the Qalandia checkpoint (Jerusalem). In the last incident, the wounded man was suffering from hearing problems and was unable to hear the soldiers´ orders. Israeli media sources later indicated that he was not carrying a knife.
OCHA said that the occupation authorities continued and escalated the demolition of homes of Palestinians under occupation and demolished a total of 25 buildings and confiscated them under the pretext of not obtaining permits, which resulted in the displacement of 32 Palestinians and damage to about 160 others. 15 of these buildings were demolished, all with the exception of two of them that were used by their owners to secure their livelihoods, in eight communities in Area C, including two buildings in the Gheir al-Ubayd and Fakhit communities (both of which are in Hebron) located in areas imposed by the Israeli army closure. For training purposes.
Six other buildings were demolished from which their owners could live in one of the incidents in Issawiya (Jerusalem), located within Area C. The rest of the buildings were located in East Jerusalem, including a residential building that was under construction in the Jabal Al-Mukabber neighborhood, which sparked clashes that injured one person. Five of the buildings in East Jerusalem were demolished by their owners, who were forced to do so in order to avoid fines. So far this year, about half of the building demolitions in East Jerusalem (118) have been carried out by their owners, after the Israeli authorities issued orders to them to demolish them.
In documenting the settlers´ aggression and attacks, the United Nations report confirmed that settlers had injured Palestinians and destroyed 650 trees, seedlings, and other property belonging to Palestinians. In one of these incidents, settlers threw stones at a Palestinian worker working on a land registration project and injured him in Hawara (Nablus). In four other incidents, settlers uprooted 400 olive and almond seedlings in Asira Ash Shamaliyah and six grape saplings in Qaryut (both in Nablus), and cut down 244 olive trees in Khirbet Al-Tawameen (Hebron), and damaged an area of ​​16 dunums of land cultivated with wheat and barley crops after they grazed Their livestock in cultivated land near the village of Sa´ir (Hebron).
Settlers also damaged seven cars in the village of Yasuf (Salfit) and a stone quarry near the village of Urif (Nablus), in which they wrote offensive slogans as well, and threw stones at cars passing near the settlements of Yitzhar (Nablus) and Kiryat Arba (Hebron). The other two incidents occurred in Hebron, where assailants believed to be settlers damaged a livestock pens and fences and stole property in At-Tuwani and the Israeli-controlled area of ​​Hebron. Moreover, a 21-year-old Palestinian man died during the reporting period after he was reportedly run over by a vehicle driven by a settler near the Kafriyat checkpoint south of Tulkarm while he was crossing Road 557 on the Israeli side of the wall.
In the Gaza Strip, the UN report said, the escalation of the occupation left 12 Palestinians and six Israelis injured. Tensions have escalated since August 12, after the Palestinians launched incendiary balloons from Gaza towards Israel, which led to setting fire to agricultural lands in the border areas of the Israeli wall, according to Israeli sources, and the Israeli occupation forces targeted several open areas and monitoring sites, causing four injuries. Children and a woman were injured, and damage was caused to the targeted sites and civilian properties located in their vicinity, including at least nine homes and a school. A Palestinian was wounded by shrapnel from a missile. In addition, six people were injured in clashes with Israeli forces near the fence.
The report stated that, as part of the collective sanctions imposed on the Gaza Strip, the Israeli authorities stopped the entry of goods into Gaza, including fuel, through the Kerem Shalom crossing with Gaza, and reduced the permitted fishing area along the Gaza coast to eight nautical miles at first, and then closed it completely after that. . The suspension of the entry of fuel caused the power plant in Gaza to be closed and completely stopped working on August 18, which led to the interruption of electricity supplies for up to 20 hours a day throughout the Gaza Strip and affected the provision of basic services.
The United Nations report said, "On at least 26 occasions, the occupation forces fired warning fire near the Israeli border fence surrounding Gaza and off its coast under the pretext of imposing restrictions on access, resulting in the injury of a fisherman, damage to a boat and the loss of fishing nets. On one occasion, I entered. The Israeli forces in Gaza and carried out sweeping and digging operations near the border fence north of Beit Lahiya.
