During the period covered by this report, the Israeli occupation forces continued their successive invasions of Palestinian cities, villages, and camps in the West Bank (with the exception of Jericho and Bethlehem). They also continued to commit a gamut of violations against Palestinian citizens’ rights, including assassination, deliberate killing, house demolition, and bulldozing land. During this period, 142 Palestinians were killed (including 27 children and 7 cases of assassination), and more than 400 residential units were destroyed under the pretext of “security,” including 12 houses destroyed under the pretext that one of the residents or owners carried out a bombing operation or was involved in an armed clash with occupation soldiers or settlers, or was wanted or detained by the occupation authorities for activist involvement in the Intifada. This is in addition to the destruction of 11 houses under the pretext that the owners did not obtain building permits. Further, more than 280 dunams of agricultural land in the Gaza Strip were bulldozed, as were other areas for the purpose of expanding settlements or erecting new military posts in the West Bank. This is in addition to the continuation of the arrest campaigns and intensified efforts to complete the construction of the separation wall, on which work began in April 2002.
The occupation forces continued their incursions into the various areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. On 10 October, they invaded the city of Rafah and opened fire, resulting in eight deaths and a number of injuries. On 18 October, they invaded the Salam and Brazil neighborhoods of Rafah and opened fire, resulting in four deaths and a number of injuries. On 11 December, the occupation forces invaded the Salam neighborhood of Rafah once again, killing six civilians. On 23 December, they invaded the neighborhood of Al-Qasas in Brazil Camp, Rafah, under the pretext that they were searching for tunnels linking the Palestinian territories to Egypt. In so doing, they killed nine civilians and demolished a number of houses. On 21 December, the occupation forces attacked the city of Nablus and the surrounding camps in a military operation they called “Operation Stagnant Water”.
Despite the relative calm that pervaded the Palestinian territories during the period covered by this report, siege and closure remained firmly in place. The West Bank and Gaza Strip remained cut off from each other, and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were prohibited from visiting Arab Jerusalem. Hundreds of permanent and temporary military checkpoints remained in place, limiting the movement of Palestinians between the various cities, as well as between each city and its neighboring or surrounding villages. As of the writing of this report, there had been no perceptible improvement in the lives of Palestinian citizens, despite efforts to sign a new truce between the Palestinian factions and the Palestinian National Authority on the one hand, and Israel on the other.
Israeli Assault on Gaza By Numbers in 30 Days
Date posted: August 09, 2014
By Safa Agency
