Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestine

Palestinian establishment targeted by Israeli war-
planes this week in the north of the Gaza Strip

Israeli violations of international law and humanitarian law in the OPT continued during the reporting period (24 – 30 March 2011)

Shooting: During the reporting period, IOF killed 3 Palestinian resistance activists and wounded 3 others in the Gaza Strip. They also wounded 5 Palestinian civilians, including two children, in the West Bank. In the Gaza Strip, on 30 March 2011, IOF extra-judicially executed an activist of the al-Quds Brigades (the armed wing of Islamic Jihad) and wounded another one seriously in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah. On 27 March 2011, IOF killed two activists of the al-Quds Brigades and wounded a third one in the northern Gaza Strip. An IOF warplanes fired at these activists after they had fired home-made rockets into Israeli towns. On 24 March 2011, a Palestinian resistance activist was wounded by a missile fired by an IOF drone in the northern Gaza Strip. During the reporting period, IOF launched a series of air strikes and artillery shelling against targets in the Gaza Strip. As a result of these attacks, two tunnels on the Egyptian border were destroyed and at least 30 houses and two schools were damaged. In the West Bank, IOF wounded 5 Palestinian civilians, including two children. During the reporting period, IOF used excessive force to disperse peaceful demonstrations organized in protest to Israeli settlement activities and the construction of the annexation wall in the West Bank. As a result, 4 Palestinian civilians, including two children, were wounded, and dozens of Palestinian civilians and international human rights defenders suffered from tear gas inhalation. IOF also arrested 14 Israeli human rights defenders and two Palestinian civilians. On 25 March 2011, a Palestinian civilian, who suffers from a psychological disorder, was wounded by the Israeli police in Fassayel village near Jericho.

Incursions: During the reporting period, IOF conducted at least 52 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, during which they arrested 27 Palestinian civilians, including 14 children. The widest incursions were into Beit Ummar town, north of Hebron, during which IOF arrested 18 Palestinian civilians, mostly children. In the Gaza Strip, IOF conducted two limited incursion into Palestinian areas, during which they leveled areas of Palestinian land.

Restrictions on Movement: Israel had continued to impose a tightened siege on the OPT and imposed severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Israel has continuously closed all border crossings to the Gaza Strip for over three years. The illegal Israeli-imposed closure of the Gaza Strip, which has steadily tightened since June 2007, has had a disastrous impact on the humanitarian and economic situation in the Gaza Strip.