UN humanitarian coordinator Jimmy McGoldrick called on the Israeli occupation authorities to stop the demolitions of Palestinian homes in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, especially during the Corona crisis and the holy month of Ramadan.
McGoldrick´s call came in the bi-monthly report issued by the United Nations (OCHA), Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territory in occupied East Jerusalem, where the report documented the demolition of nine buildings owned by Palestinians by the Israeli occupation forces on the pretext of lacking building permits, which led to the displacement of a family of Eight people and 19 others were damaged in four population centers in Area C of the West Bank.
The report indicated that part of the homes demolished by the occupation provided humanitarian aid to these families, who are considered vulnerable and marginalized in the Palestinian community in the occupied West Bank, especially in the Ain al-Dyuk al-Tahta al-Bedoui community (Jericho), where the authorities demolished a mobile home that was provided as humanitarian aid. Five buildings that were provided as humanitarian aid, including tents and livestock pens, were also demolished in the nearby Deir al-Qalt gathering.
The United Nations warned of the escalation of settler crimes and the increase in their frequency. The United Nations report said that settler crimes continued, as settlers injured five Palestinians and uprooted 470 olive trees and seedlings owned by Palestinians.
Four of the Palestinians were injured as a result of physical assault on them in the area under the Israeli occupation in the city of Hebron, and the villages of Al-Tuwani (Al-Khaili) and Jibya (Ramallah), and the other was injured as a result of throwing stones in the area under Israeli control in Hebron as well.
About 200 olive trees belonging to farmers from Turmus´ayya and Al-Mughair (Ramallah) villages were destroyed by settlers from the Adi ´Ad neighborhood, the neighboring settlement, according to reports.
Most of these trees are located on a Palestinian plot of land that the occupation forces and settlers have fenced off and prevented Palestinian owners from entering them without the permission of "prior coordination."
The report added that settlers from the same outpost attacked a fence around another piece of land and stole dozens of wooden columns. About 120 other trees were cut down in the villages of Ras Karkar (Ramallah), Kafr Qaddum (Qalqilya), Al-Sawiya and Qaryut (both in Nablus). Near the village of Faqees (Hebron), settlers uprooted approximately 1,000 seedlings of seasonal vegetables and 150 olive seedlings.
In the village of Khirbet Samra (Tubas), the settlers destroyed and grazed their livestock on 100 dunums of land planted with seasonal vegetables. Settler violence continues to increase since the beginning of March, with the weekly average of settler crimes that resulted in injuries or property damage increased by 80 percent compared to January and February.
Nine vehicles were damaged in the governorates of Jerusalem, Hebron, and Ramallah, according to an Israeli NGO.
The United Nations report confirmed that the Israeli occupation forces carried out 99 incursions and arrests in various parts of the West Bank, and arrested more than 100 Palestinians. The majority of the operations (45) and the arrests (55) were recorded in East Jerusalem, while 18 operations were recorded in the Hebron Governorate, and 14 others in the Ramallah Governorate.
The United Nations said that Asir was killed on April 22, at the age of 23 years in a prison of the occupation as a result of medical negligence. According to Israeli reports, the Israeli Prison and Detention Administration has opened an investigation into the circumstances of the death of the young prisoner.
The report added that the occupation forces shot at least 48 occasions in the areas adjacent to the border fence with and off the Gaza coast in the context of imposing restrictions on access and the provisions of the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip since 2006, and a fisherman was wounded with a rubber-coated metal bullet in the head, and two boats were damaged. On two occasions, Israeli forces stormed Gaza and carried out bulldozing and digging operations near the border fence east of Jabalia and Rafah.
The United Nations noted that on April 22, two run-over incidents carried out by Palestinians at Israeli checkpoints resulted in the injury of three Israeli soldiers and the death of one of its perpetrators. In one of these incidents, a 25-year-old Palestinian man was run over his car by a border guard soldier stationed at a military checkpoint separating the West Bank from occupied Jerusalem in Wadi Al Nar (Jerusalem), which controls Palestinian traffic between the south and north of the West Bank, and slightly injured him . The bomber got off the car and tried to stab a Border Guard soldier, before Israeli forces shot and killed him.
According to the occupation forces, in another incident, a car carrying Palestinian registration plates hit a pilot checkpoint near the Israeli settlement of Aterat (Ramallah), slightly wounding another border guard and an Israeli settler, and the perpetrator escaped from the area.
According to the UN report, 39 Palestinians were injured during multiple clashes with Israeli forces throughout the West Bank.
Twenty of those injured were treated for tear gas inhalation, eight were hit with rubber-coated metal bullets, three were shot with live ammunition, and eight were physically assaulted. The largest clashes, which resulted in 15 injuries, were recorded in al-Rayyah (Hebron), after an Israeli military jeep entered the village. Seven other Palestinians were injured during a search and arrest operation carried out by the occupation army in the village of East Sawahrah in occupied Jerusalem, after the run-over incident at the Wadi al-Nar checkpoint. Two Palestinians were wounded with live ammunition while they were trying to infiltrate into Israel through the wall near Qalqilya, and another Palestinian was reported during clashes that broke out near the village of Koper (Ramallah). The rest of the casualties were recorded in separate clashes in the Qalandia refugee camp (Jerusalem), at the Za´tara checkpoint (Nablus), near the villages of Al-Tuwani (Hebron) and Qusra (Nablus), and during the weekly demonstrations in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqilya).
