Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Escalated Attacks against Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), Especially in the Gaza Strip

· 10 Palestinians, including 4 children, were killed by IOF in the Gaza Strip.

- The victims include 6 civilians.

- 24 Palestinians, including 11 children, were wounded by IOF and Israeli settlers in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

- A police station and a number of civilian facilities were destroyed in the Gaza Strip.

· IOF continued to target Palestinian workers, farmers and fishermen in border areas in the Gaza Strip.

- IOF arrested a Palestinian fisherman and his child.

· IOF continued to use force against peaceful protests in the West Bank.

- 4 Palestinian civilians were wounded. 

· IOF conducted 45 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and two limited ones into the Gaza Strip.  

- IOF arrested 20 Palestinian civilians and two international human rights defenders.

· Israel has continued to impose a total siege on the OPT and has isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world.

- Israeli soldiers positioned at military checkpoints in the West Bank arrested one Palestinian civilian.

· IOF have continued settlement activities in the West Bank and Israeli settlers have continued to attack Palestinian civilians and property.

- Israeli settlers launched a series of violent attacks against Palestinian civilians and property.

- Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian worker inside a settlement in the north of the West Bank and stabbed another one in the south.

- Israeli settlers burnt two cars and damaged another 3 ones.

Summary

Israeli violations of international law and humanitarian law in the OPT continued during the reporting period (17 – 23 March 2011):

Shooting:

During the reporting period, IOF killed 6 Palestinian civilians, including 4 children, and 4 Palestinian resistance activists in the Gaza Strip. They also wounded 28 Palestinians, mostly civilians, including 11 children. 

In the Gaza Strip, on Saturday evening, 19 March 2011, IOF killed two Palestinian children who were nearly 300 meters away from the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel. It is worth noting that on 17 March, Israeli aircrafts dropped fliers on border areas warning Palestinians from getting as close as to 300 meters from the border. 

On 22 March 2011, IOF killed 4 Palestinian civilians, including two children, and wounded 11 others, including 8 children, with artillery shells in the east of Gaza City. IOF claimed that a shell went astray and killed and wounded these civilians. PCHR's investigations refute this claim as the area was targeted by 4 successive artillery shells.

On the same day, IOF killed 4 members of the al-Quds Brigades (the armed wing of Islamic Jihad) in Gaza City.  

During the reporting period, IOF launched a series of air strikes on a number of Palestinian civilian facilities and a police station. The targeted facilities were destroyed and a number of houses and other property were damaged. Additionally, 15 Palestinian civilians, including 3 children, were lightly injured.  

On 19 March 2011, IOF positioned at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israeli fired a number of artillery shells at Palestinian areas. As a result, 6 Palestinian civilians, including a child, were wounded, and a mosque was damaged. 

In the West Bank, IOF and Israeli settlers wounded 9 Palestinian civilians, including two children.

During the reporting period, IOF used excessive force to disperse peaceful demonstrations organized in protest to Israeli settlement activities and the construction of the annexation wall in the West Bank. As a result, 4 Palestinian civilians, including two children, were wounded, and dozens of Palestinian civilians and international human rights defenders suffered from tear gas inhalation. 

During the reporting period, a Palestinian civilian was wounded and two others sustained bruises by IOF that intervened to protect Israeli settlers who attacked Palestinian civilians and property.

On 23 March 2011, two Palestinian civilians were wounded and arrested in Beit Ummar town, north of Hebron, when IOF attacked Palestinian civilians participating in the funeral procession of a dead woman.

Incursions:

During the reporting period, IOF conducted at least 45 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, during which they arrested 20 Palestinian civilians and two international human rights defenders. including 6 children. The widest incursions were into 'Awarta village, southeast of Nablus, and Beit Ummar town, north of Hebron, during which IOF wounded two Palestinian civilians and arrested 14 Palestinian civilians and two international human rights defenders. They also violently beat a number of civilians, including a pregnant woman. 

In the Gaza Strip, IOF conducted two limited incursion into Palestinian areas, during which they leveled areas of Palestinian land.

Restrictions on Movement:

Israel had continued to impose a tightened siege on the OPT and imposed severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.

Gaza Strip

Israel has continuously closed all border crossings to the Gaza Strip for over three years. The illegal Israeli-imposed closure of the Gaza Strip, which has steadily tightened since June 2007, has had a disastrous impact on the humanitarian and economic situation in the Gaza Strip. 

· The illegal closure has caused not only a humanitarian crisis but a crisis of human rights and human dignity for the population of the Gaza Strip. Measures declared recently to ease the blockade are vague, purely cosmetic and fail to deal with the root causes of the crisis, which can only be addressed by an immediate and complete lifting of the closure, including lifting the travel ban into and out of the Gaza Strip and the ban on exports. PCHR is concerned that the new Israeli policy is simply shifting Gaza to another form of illegal blockade, one that may become internationally accepted and institutionalized. Palestinians in Gaza may no longer suffer from the same shortage of goods, but they will remain economically dependent and unable to care for themselves, and socially, culturally and academically isolated from the rest of the world.

· Expanding the list of items allowed into Gaza does not change the illegality of this policy, which is inconsistent with Israel’s legal obligations both as an Occupying Power and under international human rights treaties to which it is party, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 

· Facts on the ground refute Israeli claims with respect to the easing of the closure imposed on the Gaza Strip and the reduction of restrictions imposed on the entry of goods.

· Israeli declaration of allowing new goods to be entered into the Gaza Strip constitutes an attempt to delude the international community, as such goods do not meet the minimal needs of the Gaza Strip. 

· IOF have continued to ban the entry of raw construction materials into the Gaza Strip. 

· IOF have imposed a ban on all exports from the Gaza Strip. 

· Israel had continued to close Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing to Palestinian civilians wishing to travel to the West Bank and Israeli for medical treatment, trade or social visits.

· Israel has imposed additional access restrictions on international diplomats, journalists and humanitarian workers seeking to enter the Gaza Strip. They have prevented representatives of several international humanitarian organizations from entering the Gaza Strip.

· Living conditions of the Palestinian civilian population have seriously deteriorated; levels of poverty and unemployment have mounted sharply.

West Bank

IOF have continued to impose severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians throughout the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Thousands of Palestinian civilians from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip continue to be denied access to Jerusalem.

· IOF have established checkpoints in and around Jerusalem, severely restricting Palestinian access to the city. Civilians are frequently prevented from praying at al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

· There are approximately 585 permanent roadblocks, and manned and unmanned checkpoints across the West Bank.

· When complete, the illegal Annexation Wall will stretch for 724 kilometers around the West Bank, further isolating the entire population. 350 kilometers of the Wall have already been constructed. Approximately 99% of the Wall has been constructed inside the West Bank itself, further confiscating Palestinian land.

· At least 65% of the main roads that lead to 18 Palestinian communities in the West Bank are closed or fully controlled by IOF.

· There are approximately 500 kilometers of restricted roads across the West Bank. In addition, approximately one third of the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, is inaccessible to Palestinians without a permit issued by the IOF. These permits are extremely difficult to obtain.

· IOF continue to harass, and assault demonstrators who hold peaceful protests against the construction of the Annexation Wall.

· Palestinian civilians continue to be harassed by IOF in Jerusalem, and across the West Bank, including being regularly stopped and searched in the streets by IOF.

Settlement Activities:  

Israel has continued its settlement activities in the OPT in violation of international humanitarian law, and Israeli settlers have continued to attack Palestinian civilians and property. 

During the reporting period, Israeli settlers launched a series of violent attacks against Palestinian civilians and property. They violently beat a Palestinian worker in a settlement in the northern West Bank and stabbed another one in the south. They also burnt two cars and damaged 3 ones. 

Israeli Violations Documented during the Reporting Period (17 – 23 March 2011)

1. Incursions into Palestinian Areas and Attacks on Palestinian Civilians and Property in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip

Thursday, 17 March 2011

· At approximately 01:00, IOF moved into Bedya village, west of Salfit. They patrolled in the streets and arrested two Palestinian civilians:

1. 'Obaida 'Abdul Karim Bulad, 21; and

2. Yasser 'Abdul 'Azizi Hussein, 20.

· Also at approximately 01:00, IOF moved into Bir Zeit village, north of Ramallah. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. No arrests were reported.

· At approximately 10:00, IOF moved into Zeita village, north of Tulkarm. They ptraolled in the streets and established a checkpoint in the center of the village. They stopped and searched Palestinian civilian vehicles. IOF withdrew later and neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· At approximately 10:30, IOF moved into al-Zababda village, southeast of Jenin. They patrolled in the streets and summoned 4 Palestinian civilians for interrogation: Taha Najeh Sharqawi, 23; Muhanna Khaled Sharqawi, 23; Ahmed Khaled Sharqawi, 23; and Ahmed Qassem al-Sa'di, 25.

· At approximately 10:50, IOF moved into Khirbat Abu Falah village, northeast of Ramallah. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. No arrests were reported.

· At approximately 11:30, IOF moved into al-Bireh. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. No arrests were reported.

· At approximately 16:10, IOF moved into Nabi Elias village, east of Qalqilya. They patrolled in the streets and raided and searched a number of shops. They withdrew at approximately 18:00, and neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· At approximately 17:00, IOF moved into 'Azzoun village, east of Qalqilya. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· At approximately 20:30, IOF moved into 'Azzoun 'Atma village, south of Qalqilya. They patrolled in the streets and fired flash bombs. They withdrew later, and neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· At approximately 23:40, IOF moved into Jeet village, northeast of Qalqilya. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

Friday, 18 March 2011

· At approximately 01:30, IOF moved into Jericho. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. No arrests were reported.

· At approximately 02:00, IOF moved into Qabatya village, southeast of Jenin. They raided and searched a house belonging to Ameen Hashem Kmayel, 32. They held his wife in a neighboring house and arrested him. They then raided and searched a 4-storey house belonging to Kmayel's father, and arrested his brother, Ameen, 34.

· At approximately 10:30, IOF moved into 'Izbat Nasser suburb, east of Tulkarm. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· Also at approximately 10:30, IOF moved into Deir al-Ghossoun village, north of Tulkarm. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· At approximately 11:00, IOF moved into al-Jaroushiya village, north of Tulkarm. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· Also at approximately 11:00, IOF moved into Tulkarm. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· At approximately 13:00, IOF moved into al-Bireh. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· At approximately 19:20, IOF moved into al-'Ouja village, north of Jericho. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· At approximately 19:40, IOF moved into Jeeba village, northwest of Ramallah. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· At approximately 21:00, IOF moved into Fassayel, north of Jericho. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. No arrests were reported.

Saturday, 19 March 2011

· At approximately 03:30, IOF moved into al-Am'ari refugee camp, west of al-Bireh. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. No arrests were reported.

· At approximately 08:00, IOF positioned at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, east of Khan Yunis, fired a number of artillery shells at Palestinian agricultural and residential areas in the east of the villages of al-Qarara, 'Abassan, Khuza'a and al-Fukhari. The artillery shelling continued sporadically until 11:00. As a result of the shelling, the minaret of 'Amar Bin Yasser Mosque in 'Abassan village was damaged, but no casualties were reported.

· At approximately 09:30, IOF positioned at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, east of Gaza City, fired 3 artillery shells at a site of the Palestinian National Security Forces near al-Mansoura Square in the east of al-Shuja'iya neighborhood in the east of Gaza City, nearly 2,000 meters away from the border. As a result, 6 Palestinians were wounded:

1. Sa'eb Maher Abu Safiya, 20, a security man, seriously wounded by shrapnel to the head and the left foot;

2. 'Emad Saleh Sa'id, 35, a security man, wounded by shrapnel to the body, and sustained a facture to the right foot;

3. Midhat Saleem al-Dayah, 20, wounded by shrapnel throughout the body;

4. Nasser 'Omar Abu Shanab, 22, wounded by shrapnel to the back;

:: Article nr. 76185 sent on 25-mar-2011 08:08 ECT