UN OCHA Protection of Civilians Weekly Report May 19-25, 2015

by Middle East and Europe | published on May 28, 2015

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories publishes a weekly Protection of Civilians report. The current report covers the period between May, 19-25, 2015. To view the complete version of the report, including a series of charts with the main indicators, please click here.

Highlights:

Israeli forces shot and killed one Palestinian man in the At Tur area of East Jerusalem, after he ran-over a group of Israeli border policemen, injuring two of them. While according to an initial investigation by the Israeli authorities this was a deliberate attack, Palestinian eye witnesses claim that it was an accident.
77 Palestinians, including eight children were injured by Israeli forces across the oPt; in the West Bank, nearly half of the injuries took place during protests, including against the aforementioned killing in East Jerusalem. In one incident, an eight-year-old boy was injured after being shot in the eye with a rubber bullet while returning from school next to Shu’fat checkpoint (Jerusalem), while clashes were ongoing; this is the third child injured in this location in the same circumstances so far this year. In the Gaza Strip, on at least 22 occasions, Israeli forces opened fire at civilians in the Access Restricted Area (ARA) on land and at sea injuring three fishermen including a 16-year-old child.
Israeli forces conducted 91 search and arrest operations in the West Bank and one land-leveling incident approximately 200 meters into the Gaza Strip, east of Al Maghazi refugee camp (Middle Area).Overall, 106 Palestinians’ were arrested across the oPt, including three near the fence surrounding Gaza, during attempts to cross into Israel.
The Israeli authorities demolished nine (9) Palestinian structures in Area C (six) and East Jerusalem (three) for lack of Israeli-issued building permits, affecting a total of nine families half of them children.
Five Israeli settler attacks resulting in Palestinian injuries or property damage were recorded. Three of these incidents took place in the Israeli-controlled part of Hebron city (H2), resulting in the injury of two children and the partial damage of a water network serving at least five Palestinian households. At least 235 Palestinian-owned trees were reportedly set on fire and vandalized in Salfit and Tulkarm, on lands located near settlements. The Israeli organization Yesh Din reported this week that 85% of the complaints on settler violence filed with the Israeli Police and tracked by the organization since 2005 were closed without indictment.
In addition to the above, Israeli media reported two Palestinian attacks resulting in Israeli injuries or property damage in East Jerusalem, including the stabbing and injury of two Israeli youths in the Old City and the damage of an Israeli vehicle hit by a Molotov cocktail near Beit Hanina.
The Israeli authorities opened the main road between the village of Beitin (2,700 people) and Ramallah city, which is their main service center, via the DCO checkpoint. This will significantly reduce the travel time into Ramallah from 30 to 10 minutes; however, the way back will still require a long detour, as passage through the checkpoint in this direction remains restricted. The closure of this road since 2000, following the beginning of the second uprising (Intifada), has severely undermined the access of Beitin’s residents to services and livelihoods, forcing a significant number of families to abandon the village.
The Rafah crossing was closed in both directions by the Egyptian authorities during the week. The crossing has been continuously closed since 24 October 2014, following an attack in Sinai, except intermittently on 12 days, on which it was partially opened.