Israeli forces and settlers killed one Palestinian, injured more than 80 others, detained 154 people, demolished or seized 21 Palestinian-owned structures, bulldozed dozens of dunums of agricultural land, and uprooted hundreds of trees and saplings in various parts of the occupied West Bank, said to the biweekly Protection of Civilians Report of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), covering the period of December 8 and 21.
OCHA said that on 21 December, a 17-year-old Palestinian boy from Qabatiya in the north of the West Bank reportedly opened fire at a police post in the Old City of Jerusalem and was subsequently shot and killed by Israeli forces who chased him. A police officer reportedly fell while running and was lightly injured.
According to the report, a total of 73 Palestinians, including 16 children, were injured in multiple clashes with Israeli forces across the West Bank, the bulk of which 57 were recorded in protests against settlement activities in Kafr Qaddum near Qalqilya, and al Mughayyir and Kafr Malik near Ramallah. Ten of the Palestinians injured during this period were hit by live ammunition, 17 by rubber bullets, and 40 were treated for inhaling tear gas.
"Eight Palestinians, including three children, were also injured in attacks by Israeli settlers," the report added.
Moreover, it stated that in three separate incidents, Israeli settlers physically assaulted and forced out of their land Palestinian farmers from the community of Susiya, injuring a boy and an elderly man; this is one of the multiple communities in Area C at risk of forcible transfer.
After an Israeli settler was found dead on December 20 in a forest near the illegal Tal Menashe settlement in the Jenin area in the north of the West Bank, where she lived, a series of stone-throwing and physical assault incidents by Israeli settlers against Palestinians were reported in various parts of the West Bank injuring several Palestinians, including a boy and his father and a shepherd.
Israeli forces, said OCHA, carried out 183 search-and-arrest operations and detained 154 Palestinians across the West Bank and East Jerusalem, .
A total of 21 Palestinian-owned structures were demolished or seized due to a lack of rarely-issued Israeli building permits, displacing 14 people and otherwise affecting over 100.
The year 2020 has recorded the second-highest number of structures demolished after 2016 since OCHA began systematically documenting this practice in 2009.
Israeli forces bulldozed some 30 dunums of agricultural land near Suba village in the Hebron district on grounds that it had been declared ‘state land’.
About 930 olive, grape, almond, and cactus trees were uprooted or damaged during the incident, in addition to agricultural terraces, metal bars, and fences, and a gate. The livelihoods of eight families were affected.
In addition, Israeli settlers uprooted or damaged 740 Palestinian-owned trees and saplings in various parts of the West Bank.
Since the start of 2020, at least 8,550 trees have been damaged by Israeli settlers, said OCHA.
Source : Safa