Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF)
Launch More Attacks in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)

· 3 Palestinian children were killed by IOF.

· 16 Palestinian civilians, mostly children, were wounded by IOF.

· Construction of the “annexation wall” in the West Bank has
continued; large areas of Palestinian land were confiscated in Hebron,
Bethlehem and Ramallah.

· IOF conducted 23 incursions into Palestinian areas in the
West Bank, the widest of which was into Nablus.

· At least 40 Palestinian civilians were arrested by IOF. 

· 2 Palestinian houses were transformed by IOF into military
sites.

· Israeli settlers have continued to attack Palestinian
civilians and property in the West Bank and more areas of Palestinian land were
confiscated in Hebron and Jenin for the purpose of settlement expansion. 

· IOF have continued to impose a total siege on the OPT; IOF have
continued to close a number of roads since the beginning of the current
Intifada, and IOF positioned at checkpoints arrested a number of Palestinian
civilians.

Introduction

Israeli occupation forces (IOF) have
launched more attacks on Palestinian civilians and property in the Occupied
Palestinian Territory (OPT). This week, human rights violations perpetrated by
IOF included shooting at Palestinian civilians, incursions into Palestinian
areas, house raids and arbitrary arrests. This week, IOF killed 3 Palestinian
children in Rafah and injured a number of other civilians. In violation of
international law and humanitarian law, IOF have also continued to construct
the annexation wall inside the West Bank territory and confiscated more areas
of Palestinian land for this purpose.  They
have also continued to impose severe restrictions on the movement of
Palestinian civilians. 

In the
Gaza Strip, on 9 April 2005, IOF willfully killed 3 Palestinian children near
the Egyptian border, south of Rafah. These children did not pose any
threat to the lives of Israeli soldiers. PCHR believes that whatever the reason
for the presence of the victims near the border, it does not justify their
killing.  On the same day, IOF opened fire at residential areas in
Khan Yunis, injuring five Palestinian civilians, including three children. On 8 April 2005, a Palestinian civilian was
injured when IOF opened fire at residential areas in Rafah. 

This week,
IOF conducted 23 military incursions into Palestinian areas in the West Bank, the
largest of which was into Nablus on 11 April 2005. IOF raided and searched a
number of houses and opened fire at Palestinian civilians. As a result, 10
Palestinian civilians, including eight children, were wounded, and 11 other
civilians were arrested. This week, IOF
arrested 44 Palestinian civilians, including seven children, in the West Bank.
IOF also seized two houses in Hebron and transformed them into military
sites. They also raided two schools and
a kindergarten. 

IOF have continued to construct the
annexation wall inside the West Bank territory. For this purpose, they
confiscated more areas of Palestinian land. At the beginning of this week, IOF
completed the construction of a section of the wall to the west of al-Ram
village, north of East Jerusalem. The construction of this section of the wall
has impacted on commercial transactions in the area. It has also isolated
nearly 60,000 Palestinian civilians in al-Ram village and isolated the village
and the neighboring Dahiat al-Barid area from their surroundings. This week,
IOF issued a number of military orders confiscating 2691 donums[1] in
the villages of Yatta, al-Zahiriya and al-Biurj, southwest of Hebron; al-Khader
village, southwest of Bethlehem; and Deir Ebzei’ village, southwest of
Ramallah. In addition, IOF used force to
disperse peaceful demonstrations organized by Palestinian civilians in protest
to the construction of the wall. A number of Palestinian civilians and international
solidarity activists suffered from tear gas inhalation.

Israeli settlers living in the OPT
in violation of international humanitarian law have launched a series of
attacks against Palestinian civilians and property. This week, IOF issued a
number of military orders confiscating 116 donums of Palestinian land in Hebron
for the purposes of settlement expansion. They also confiscated for more areas
of Palestinian land to the east of Hebron to establish a fence around
“Ennab” settlement. 

IOF have continued to impose a tightened
siege on the OPT, including Jerusalem.  In the Gaza Strip, IOF have
continued to completely or partially close all border crossings of the Gaza
Strip, and impose severe restrictions on the internal movement of Palestinian
civilians.  They have also continued to close a number of roads and
crossings in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the current Intifada. IOF have continued to impose a strict siege
on Palestinian communities near Israeli settlements, causing more suffering to
Palestinian civilians.  

In
the West Bank, IOF have
continued to impose a strict siege on Palestinian communities. They have also
imposed severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians to prevent
them from reaching Jerusalem to protect al-Aqsa Mosque as extremist Jewish
groups declared that they would break into the mosque. IOF also erected a
number of sudden military checkpoints. They stopped and checked Palestinian
civilians and arrested 12 of them, including two children. IOF arrested Sheikh
Hassan Yousef, Spokesman of Hamas, when he was traveling back to Ramallah from
al-Aqsa Mosque.

The
full report is available PDF format.