Palestine: 4 Palestinians, including a child killed by Israeli forces in a week
By Elham Asaad Buaras
(The Muslim News): Four Palestinians, including a child, were killed last week (March 3-9) and 16 others, among them two children, were injured, taking the total tally of Palestinian civilians killed by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) in the West Bank this year to 13, reports the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR).
According to the PCHR, affiliated with the International Commission of Jurists in Geneva and the International Federation for Human Rights in Paris, the latest fatality occurred on March 9 when Ahmad Hikmat Seif, 23, from Burqa village in Nablus, died of wounds that he sustained during the IOF’s suppression of a procession protest on March 1. The protest was organised at the village’s entrance in support of Palestinian political prisoners.
Seif was shot three times in the abdomen when Israeli soldiers attacked a procession in the village. Ghassan Daghlas, another Palestinian youth, was also shot and injured during Seif’s funeral procession on March 9.
“So far in 2022, the IOF conducted 1381 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, during which 864 Palestinians were detained, among them 115 children and 9 women.
The IOF also conducted 10 limited incursions into the eastern Gaza Strip and arrested 12 Palestinians, including seven fishermen.
Meanwhile, four were arrested during infiltration attempts into Israel, and another at the Beit Hanoun “Erez” crossing, reports the PCHR.
The IOF continues to impose restrictions on freedom of movement in the West Bank, including Occupied East Jerusalem. In addition to the 108 permanent checkpoints, the IOF established 76 temporary military checkpoints this week. The majority (35), of the newly erected checkpoints, were in Hebron, where five Palestinians have been detained.
Attacks by illegal Israeli settlers on Palestinian civilians and their properties
Israeli settlers are committing violent, daily attacks against Palestinians harvesting their olive trees for the season.
The latest acts of destruction occurred on March 6 when illegal Israeli settlers uprooted at least 150 olive trees, damaged an agricultural room, and stole 40 olive seedlings in Kafr ad-Dik village in western Salfit. On the same day, Israeli settlers uprooted 80 olive seedlings in Duma village, southeast of Nablus.
“So far this year, settlers have carried out 50 attacks on Palestinians and their properties in the West Bank,” tallied the PCHR.
Palestinians across the occupied West Bank faced an “alarming” rise in settler violence in 2021, UN human rights experts said in a statement last year.
“We are witnessing the highest recorded levels of violence in recent years and more severe incidents,” the statement said.
According to UN figures, 370 settler attacks led to damage to properties in 2021, up from 274 the previous year. A further 126 assaults caused casualties, compared to 84 in 2020. At the same time, settlement building has tripled from the previous year, with the approval of 4,000 new units, according to Khalil al-Tafkaji, a Palestinian expert on settlements and director of the map unit at the Centre for Arab Studies in Jerusalem.
[Photo: Israeli forces attack rally marking the 28th anniversary of the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre in Hebron, West Bank 0n 25 Feb 2022. On Feb. 25, 1994, during dawn prayer, hundreds of Palestinians were attacked by Israeli settlers killing 29 Muslim worshippers & injuring dozens during morning prayers. Photographer: Mamoun Wazwaz/AA]
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