In October 2024, the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) and Israeli settlers continued their crimes and violations of human rights and international humanitarian law against Palestinians and their properties in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem. These crimes have included willful killings, destruction of public and private property, arrests, threats, among others. The Following is some of violations highlighted and documented by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR):
Killings and violation of the right to life and bodily integrity:
The IOF and settlers’ attacks during the reporting period in the West Bank have resulted in the killing of 45 Palestinians, including 19 civilians; amongst them 6 children, 2 women, and an elderly man who died after being severely beaten during a raid on his home in Dura, Hebron. Additionally, a detainee from Bethlehem passed away in the Israeli prisons.
According to PCHR researchers’ monitoring, the killings occurred in various contexts, whether by shooting during protests, clashes, raids, and military attacks, or by drone strikes, or through executions carried out by Israeli special units.
On 03 October 2024, 18 Palestinians were killed, including at least 10 civilians; amongst them a couple with their two children, and another child, and 20 others were injured when IOF’s warplanes bombed a popular café beneath a residential building in a densely populated area of Tulkarm camp, east of Tulkarm city in the northern West Bank, as part of an extrajudicial killing. (Details available at PCHR’s press release).
On the same day, IOF killed Salah Ziad Issa Shawahin (23) from Hebron, near the military liaison entrance leading to Route 60 south of Hebron, under the pretext of attempting to carry out a stabbing attack.
On 07 October 2024, IOF killed Hatem Sami Hisham Ghaith (12) and injured six others, including five children, one of whom sustained critical injuries, during a raid on Qalandia camp, north of occupied East Jerusalem.
On the same day, IOF killed Ziad Abu Halil (66) after severely beating him in his home in Dura, Hebron.
On 13 October 2024, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Affairs Authority informed the Palestinian Ministry of Health of the death of detainee Mohammad Munir Musa (37), from Bethlehem, in Soroka Medical Centre on Friday, 08 October 2024. The Prisoner Affairs Authority and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club stated in a joint statement that Musa had been detained by Israeli authorities since 20 April 2023. This was his first arrest as he was held in Ramon Prison while still under detention. He is married and a father of three daughters. The statement added, “Prisoner Musa did not suffer from any chronic health problems before his arrest, and there is not enough information available about the circumstances of his death.”
On 14 October 2024, IOF killed Rayan Ibrahim Hassan Al-Sayed (15) after an Israeli special unit infiltrated Jenin city and besieged a house. They also killed a Palestinian in armed clashes in the Old City of Jenin. Before withdrawing, they arrested three Palestinians from the besieged house, claiming they were wanted.
On 15 October 2024, Salah Al-Din Mohammad Mahmoud Jabareen from Jenin refugee camp, west of Jenin, succumbed to his injuries after IOF shot him on 05 July 2024 along with His father, Mohammad Mahmoud Jabareen, who was killed at the time while trying to save him during the raid on Jenin camp.
On 17 October 2024, IOF stationed near the annexation wall unjustifiably shot dead Hanan Abdulrahman Abu Salama (59) while picking olives with her family during the olive harvest season in Faqqua village, north of Jenin.
On 22 October 2024, IOF killed Abdullah Jamal Nidal Hawash (11) during a raid in the Ras Al-Ain neighborhood, south of Nablus.
On 26 October 2024, IOF stationed near the annexation wall in ‘Azzun ‘Atma village in Qalqilya unjustifiably shot dead Sabri Samer Sabri Ahmed (23) from the same town.
On 31 October 2024, Mu’tasim Saleh Ali Aisha (32) was shot dead by IOF while looking out of his window in the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarm during a raid on the camp.
During reporting period, IOF carried out 17 extrajudicial executions, killing 19 Palestinians, including 10 civilians: three children and a woman. They besieged, engaged in armed clashes, and killed five Palestinians, while confiscating the body of one.
So far in 2024, IOF attacks have killed 454 Palestinians, including 85 children, 14 women, including an international activist, and 13 officially reported dead in Israeli prisons.
IOF attacks injured 88 Palestinians, including 28 children, and a paramedic: 8 were deemed critical.
Since the beginning of 2024, IOF attacks injured (1,163) Palestinians, including (267) children, and (21) women.
Demolition and land-razing
During the reporting period, the IOF and Israeli settlers demolished 55 facilities, including 17 houses; 10 of which were demolished under the pretext of construction without building permits, 7 were self-demolished by the owners in occupied East Jerusalem, 36 commercial facilities, and a fuel station in Al-Laban Al-Sharqiya, southeast of Nablus. Moreover, IOF confiscated fuel, fuel tanks, and gasoline pumps under the pretext of unlicensed construction. IOF partially destroyed a home in Tulkarm, and completely demolished another during IOF ground and air assault on Tulkarm City. They also uprooted 140 olive trees in Salfit and Jerusalem as documented by our field researchers.
Moreover, during their incursions, IOF conducted extensive destruction to the cities and refugee camps in the West Bank, particularly to the infrastructure including water pipes, telephone and electricity lines in streets in Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps, as well as Al-Far’a refugee camp, south of Tubas.
Raids and arrests
The IOF have conducted 1584 raids into Palestinian cities, refugee camps, and villages across the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, storming into several houses, going through their residents’ belongings, while damaging some, and abusing and subjecting their residents to ill-treatment. During these raids, the IOF have arrested 858 Palestinians, including 31 children and 8 women, according to statistics based on the Palestinian Prisoners Club’s monitoring.
During the raids, IOF confiscated two agricultural tractors, a cart, 25 herds of sheep, a truck, and seven private vehicles, and damaged one vehicle. They also confiscated equipment from Beit Al-Maqdis carpentry in the town of Beit Liqya in Ramallah. Additionally, they seized 100,000 shekels from a home in occupied East Jerusalem and 40,000 shekels from a home while arresting a Palestinian in Salfit.
Land confiscations and settlement expansion
During the reporting period, the IOF and Israeli settlers continued their settlement expansion policy materialized in confiscating and razing Palestinian lands to establish settlement outposts and expand settlements.
On 01 October 2024, settlers plowed a 15-dunam agricultural land in the Tubas, west of Dura in Hebron, preparing it for planting in an attempt to seize it.
On 07 October 2024, settlers established a pastoral settlement outpost on the lands of the Shuqba, between Shuqba and Rantis villages in Ramallah, aiming to seize control of hundreds of dunams from the two villages and convert them into a settlement.
On 11 October 2024, IOF leveled a 10-dunam plot of land in the Al-Qarn area of Beit Ummar, adjacent to Route 60, for the benefit of settlement expansion.
On 12 October 2024, IOF issued a military order to seize 53 dunams and 947 square meters of land from Salfit and Kifl Haris in Salfit to construct a settlement road from the entrance of Salfit to the village of Kifl Haris, as most of this land is planted with ancient olive trees.
On 14 October 2024, IOF issued a military order to confiscate 26,944 dunams of land from the village of Jaba’, northwest of Jerusalem, to expand the “Adam” settlement.
On 15 October 2024, a group of settlers seized a water well in the Halawa area, southeast of Yatta in Hebron and set up several tents, sheep pens, and herds of sheep around the well.
On 19 October 2024, settlers, under the protection of IOF, set up caravans in Shaab Abu Sakour area in Turqumiya village in Hebron to expand a settlement outpost.
On 22 October 2024, settlers established a new settlement outpost on 1,000 dunams of land from to the village of Farkha in Salfit.
On 28 October 2024, settlers set up a tent on Palestinian-owned lands in the Sada Al-Tha’la area, east of Yatta in Hebron, raising the Israeli flag over it to claim the land and convert it into a settlement outpost.
On 30 October 2024, a settler placed a caravan in the Ras Jabal Khallat Jadou’ area in Dura, attempting to establish a new settlement outpost.
Additionally, IOF approved the confiscation of 64 dunams from Umm Tuba in East Jerusalem. This would result in the displacement of 139 Palestinians living in around 30 homes. The Jerusalem Governor reported that families from Umm Tuba filed a petition to the Israeli court to halt “settlement” activities carried out by the Israeli authorities after it was revealed that about 64 dunams of village’s land were registered under the name of the “Jewish National Fund”. According to the governorate, citing lawyer Yazid Qa’war, who represents the residents alongside lawyer Mohammad Dahleh, the land registration process was carried out without notifying or involving the Palestinian owners of these lands. Qa’war added that the Israeli authorities relied on the so-called “Israeli Land Settlement Law”, which has been increasingly used to confiscate Palestinian lands in Jerusalem and transfer it to colonialist organizations.
Settler violence
This month, Israeli settlers conducted 180 attacks against Palestinian villages and cities across the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem, the most violent of these attacks have targeted residents harvesting their olive crops across the West Bank, resulting in many injuries. Settlers also stole olives and olive-picking equipment. Their attacks injured 6 Palestinian with live bullets in Hebron. Also, settlers set 3 homes and 5 private vehicles ablaze, smashed the windows of 16 vehicles, and assaulted 66 people, including three children and seven women, using various means such as sticks, sharp objects, and stones. They attacked 14 homes, smashed their windows, and stole equipment from the Beit Al-Sheikh Mosque, including solar panels, speakers, fans, unified call-to-prayer sound systems, and damaged doors and windows in Khirbet Tana, east of Nablus. They also stole farming tools and 217 sheep from Kafr Ni’ma in Ramallah and Aqraba, southeast of Nablus.
Settlers uprooted and cut down 545 olive trees across the West Bank, burned dozens of dunams of farmland, and damaged the water network in Al-Sawahra in Bethlehem, causing water shortages for residents. They also vandalized the electricity room at the entrance of Kafr Yasif in Salfit, leading to a power outage in the village. Additionally, a group of settlers placed barbed wire around an entire home in the Al-Ma’arjat area in Jericho, preventing the residents from moving around freely and putting their lives at risk.
IOF attacks in Jerusalem
IOF’s violations and Judaization attempts continued in occupied Jerusalem by approving the building of hundreds of new settlement units and entrenching their house demolition policy against Palestinians under various pretexts. IOF also continue to impose age-based access restrictions to Al-Aqsa Mosque, especially on Fridays, and enforce strict search procedures.
On 15 October 2024, IOF demolished a commercial facility for selling and filling medical oxygen belonging to Badrieh family in the industrial area of Wadi al-Joz in Jerusalem. This demolition was part of the implementation of the “Silicon Wadi” project, which threatens to destroy industrial and commercial establishments to pave the way for an area dedicated to high-tech companies, hotels, and commercial spaces.
Raids on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound continue, stirring the emotions of Muslims. Religious rituals, including the “epic prostration” and the blowing of the shofar by an Israeli rabbi, are being performed in the mosque courtyards.
On 10 October 2024, IOF seized the land housing UNRWA HQ in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem, and decided to convert it into a settlement containing 1,440 housing units. This move is part of intensified campaigns against UNRWA, including efforts to enforce legislation that undermines its legitimacy and criminalizes its activities. On 28 October 2024, the Israeli Parliament (Knesset) nearly unanimously passed two laws explicitly designed to disrupt the operations and essential services of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) throughout the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT). Under the adopted legislation, Israel is prohibiting UNRWA from conducting any activities in what is referred to as “the sovereign territory of the State of Israel”. If implemented, the two adopted laws would result in the closure of UNRWA’s headquarters in lawfully occupied and illegally annexed eastern Jerusalem, where operations across the entire OPT are managed. As a result, millions of Palestinian refugees across the OPT will be deprived of essential services-particularly education and healthcare. (Details available at PCHR’s press release).
Previously, Israeli authorities ordered UNRWA to vacate its headquarters in Sheikh Jarrah, under the pretext of the UN agency’s “failure to obtain approval” from the Israel Land Authority and imposing fines on the agency, requiring it to pay large sums as overdue rent for land use.
UNRWA’s headquarters in Sheikh Jarrah serves as the agency’s main center, and the area has witnessed numerous protests in recent months organized by extremist settlers demanding the closure of the headquarters, with some even setting fires around it.
Restriction on freedom of movement and checkpoints
The IOF have established more military checkpoints in the West Bank and tightened restrictions on freedom of movement between the cities and villages, rendering them isolated and entrenching the geographical fragmentation. During the reporting period, the IOF established 482 temporary checkpoints along the streets and between the villages. They also erected tens of permanent checkpoints aiming to restrict Palestinians’ freedom of movement by searching and arresting them. During the reporting period, IOF arrested 26 Palestinians, including military personnel members from the Palestinian Security Services (PSS).
Palestinian civilians are subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment at checkpoints, hindering their movement and endangering their lives based on mere fallacious suspicions that have led to their killing or arrest allegedly for being “wanted”. These checkpoints have also brought unbearable suffering to Palestinian women, particularly pregnant women after being delayed at these checkpoints.
