This Week In Occupied Palestine (17/02/2023)
51 Palestinians have been killed so far this year. During the past week settler attacks, raids on refugee camps, home demolitions, attacks on prisoners and the bombing of Gaza all occurred.
In addition to more home demolitions inside occupied East Jerusalem and tactics of collective punishment escalating inside the occupied territories, Israeli settler extremists began to play a leading role in the oppression and murder of Palestinians this week. There were also more attacks against Israeli settlers and soldiers, in response to the ongoing crimes of the occupation and its newly declared settlement expansion goals. Inside the military prisons, tensions also escalated, as Israeli military forces suffered failures during their raids into Nablus and Jenin, as a number of new tactics were employed against their forces by the Palestinian resistance.
A Palestinian man forced to watch Israeli forces demolish his home in Masafer Yatta (Source: Quds News)
This week in occupied Palestine…
On Saturday, Israeli occupation forces began the day by storming Anata, in occupied East Jerusalem, on an arrest campaign. Occupation police were also filmed assaulting Palestinians in Silwan, Israeli forces later fired tear gas and bullets towards protesters in the villages of Nabi Saleh and Kafr Qaddoum.
An illegal Israeli settler shot dead a Palestinian man, named Mithqal Suleiman, in the village of Qarawat Bani Hassan, located west of Salfit. Despite the murder of an unarmed Palestinian with a headshot, there has been no indication that the Israeli authorities have bothered to pursue the settler. The Fatah party later declared a comprehensive strike in the Salfit governorate to mourn the death of Mithqal, who left behind two young children and his wife.
Video emerged of an Israeli “Security agent” drawing his gun on pro-Palestinian student protesters, at Complutense University of Madrid, who were there to demonstrate against the appearance of the Israeli ambassador to Spain, Rodica Radian-Gordon. Spanish police reportedly attacked some of the demonstrators and rushed the armed Israeli agent out of sight, with no indication that he was ever detained or questioned for his violent reaction to the protesters.
Israeli occupation forces assaulted and arrested Palestinians from the al-Saadiya neighborhood in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem.
A single rocket was reportedly fired from the Gaza Strip in response to the ongoing repression of Palestinians and young Palestinian-Bedouin’s threw stones at Israeli vehicles near the village of Hura in al-Naqab, angry at the ongoing efforts to displace them. The Jenin brigades armed group also opened fire against the Jalameh checkpoint, located in the north-east of Jenin.
In al-Eizariya neighbourhood, located in occupied East Jerusalem, young people threw stones at Israeli forces who opened fire on them. Protesting the policies of the University administration at Birzeit University, the Workers Union announced the suspension of administrative work hours and a number of other steps in an ongoing battle to secure better rights for workers. The Palestinian teachers Union also announced that it would be continuing its strike.
Tens of thousands of Israeli protesters again marched through the streets of Tel Aviv and in other cities, demanding that the government of Benjamin Netanyahu not go through with reforms that will overhaul the Israeli supreme court. Many prominent Israeli politicians and military figures have been sounding the alarms about the potential harms that may be done to the Israeli political and legal system by the far-right government, voicing concerns of an Israeli civil-war.
Two young Palestinians were reportedly injured in a settler attack against them in Hawara town, south of Nablus. A shooting attack towards the illegal Israeli settlement of Beit El, north of al-Bireh, was also reported.
On Sunday, Shuafat refugee camp was stormed by Israeli forces and arrests were carried out against 6 young Palestinians, the Israeli minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, was also revealed to have requested a complete list of Palestinian homes that can be bulldozed, so that he can pursue ethnically cleansing as many areas as possible. Illegal Israeli settler fanatics decided to again storm the al-Aqsa mosque compound.
Israeli media channel, Yediot Ahronot, reported that the economic activity of Israeli settlers had decreased in occupied Jerusalem by 10-20% since the recent attacks against them by Palestinians, providing reason to believe that the lone-wolf operations are having an economic effect.
Peaceful protests and sit-ins occurred throughout the West Bank, in support of the teachers union’s strike efforts. Palestinian homes were later raided in Silwan and residents of al-Issawiya were notified to leave their homes that had been marked for demolition by the Israeli authorities in occupied Jerusalem. Israeli occupation forces later stormed Abu Dis and fired tear gas at the al-Quds University.
Sirens sounded in the Jenin refugee camp, to indicate an Israeli raid and news emerged of a special forces unit discovered undercover in Jabriyat. Israeli forces then launched a large raid into Jabriyat and arrested Jibril Zubeidi, the brother of imprisoned Palestinian icon Zakaria Zubeidi. The Jenin Brigades announced that one of their units had opened fire on the raiding forces and achieved direct hits. The power was cut by the Israeli forces during the raid, snipers were deployed across multiple sites and Palestinian injuries were reported in the Ibn Sina hospital, 2 with bullet wounds to the stomach. An Israeli drone was also shot down by the Jenin Brigades. Another Palestinian was shot and injured in the Qabatiya area in Jenin.
Israeli occupation forces stormed the Eizariya area again and attacked residents, they then demolished a water well in the Birin area, located in Masafer Yatta, leaving Palestinian residents without a water supply.
A Palestinian child was shot dead in Jenin, his name was Qusai Wakid and he was from the town of al-Arqa. After initially losing his pulse, he was temporarily revived, giving his family some hope of a recovery, only for him to later be pronounced dead. The Jenin brigades later released evidence that they had for the first time deployed their own drones in order to monitor Israeli forces, without them shooting down any of the UAV’s.
Occupation forces stormed Abu Dis and injured 71 Palestinians in the al-Quds University, in addition to storming al-Issawiya neighborhood again.
The Palestinian Prisoners Association declared that Ahmed Abu Ali, who died in Israeli detainment after allegations of medical neglect, was given an autopsy by Israel without consulting the martyred prisoner's family and ignoring a request submitted by the family lawyer to the Magistrate Court in Beir Saba’.
Ignoring the warnings from the US and EU, Israel then recognised 9 settlement outposts that are considered illegal under international law and approved plans for thousands of new settler units. Israeli government recognition makes them legal under Israeli law and means that they are technically annexed; this is a war crime. The US offered a weak dissatisfaction statement, without taking any action, essentially allowing Tel Aviv to continue with its settlement expansion efforts.
Israeli forces then raided Aida refugee camp (in Bethlehem) and al-Tur (in occupied Jerusalem). Israeli illegal settlers were also caught on film attacking and vandalizing Palestinian homes and vehicles near Ramallah.
Late that night, reports emerged about an Israeli undercover unit being discovered in Nablus. When Palestinian resistance forces opened fire on the car that the Israeli unit was using, the occupation army launched a massive raid on Nablus and cornered the fighters in a building, which they besieged from all angles. Press crews who went to cover the events were shot at by Israeli forces and military vehicles rammed into Palestinian civilian cars.
On Monday, during the early hours of the morning the raid continued in Nablus, as Israeli occupation forces also stormed Jericho city. Hundreds of military jeeps flooded Nablus and opened fire on Palestinian demonstrators who had come to the streets to throw stones and confront the invasion of their city. Israeli occupation forces used a small UAV, a suicide drone, to bomb inside a building in Nablus, they also fired a large number of ENERGA and anti-tank missiles into a building they besieged, in which the fighters who had fired on the undercover unit were taking cover.
After hours of besieging the building and firing missiles at it, Israeli special forces units were ready to storm the building. When one unit entered, they walked into an ambush. Palestinian eye-witnesses reported the bodies of dead Israelis being taken from the building, the initial reports in Palestinian media circles concluded that at least 5 special force members were hit and Israeli ambulances rushed to the scene to extract the casualties. The Israeli military admitted that an ambush had occurred but did not confirm casualties, silencing their own media from discussing the issue.
Meanwhile, in surrounding areas, all the armed resistance groups in Nablus sent battalions to attack the Israeli military, with Jenin Brigades fighters even traveling to help them defend the city. A number of Palestinian youths were shot with live ammunition and injured during the confrontations between demonstrators and the Israeli military also.
The Lions Den armed group released a statement on the ambush inside the besieged building, asserting that Israel will simply discard its dead and injured amongst other “accident” scenarios they create, which is a way the occupation forces are known to cover up how their forces were truly killed. The building seemed to have been boobytrapped with explosives and when the Israeli forces entered they exploded and the Palestinian fighters opened fire.
Shortly after this incident, Israeli forces began to withdraw from the building's surroundings, coming under heavy fire from the resistance, which managed to damage a number of military vehicles and delay the withdrawal. When Palestinian medical crews were finally allowed into the building, they found blood soaked floors, but no injured or dead Palestinian fighters. We still don’t know exactly what happened to the fighters, they were likely arrested or escaped, it was confirmed by video evidence that three young Palestinians were arrested during the incursion however. By the end of the raid, miraculously, only one Palestinian man, named Amir Bustami, was killed.
Seemingly in a rage, the Israeli military then launched airstrikes on Gaza City, stormed Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem and also raided Jenin.
Israeli forces stormed Jabal al-Mukaber in occupied Jerusalem, injuring 30 Palestinians according to the reports of the Red Crescent, they also demolished a home in the area. Palestinian teenagers responded by burning temporary Israeli offices set up for the military in the area, which were made out of shipping containers.
A decision in a Palestinian Authority (PA) Administrative court ruled that the PA’s detainment of Musab Shtayyeh - a prominent member of the Lions Den group affiliated with Hamas - is illegal and demanded his immediate release, to which the PA has still refused to release him.
Roughly 90,000 Israelis protested in front of the Knesset (Israeli parliament), in opposition to the far-right government's judicial reforms.
Reports then emerged that a Palestinian had stabbed an Israeli settler in the Old City of Jerusalem and had managed to get away when being pursued by occupation forces. It was then later announced that a 14-year-old had been arrested and was accused of injuring the settler.
The Supreme Emergency Committee of the Palestinian Prisoner Movement announced that they would begin taking steps of civil disobedience in response to Israeli attacks on the political prisoners and stated that at the beginning of Ramadan they will declare a hunger strike.
An Israeli settler then reportedly rammed his car into a Palestinian teenager who was riding an electric bike in Ariha (Jericho city), leading to the settlers detainment by the PA police and then the handing over of the settler to the Israeli authorities.
Later, at Shuafat refugee camp checkpoint, a 13-year-old Palestinian from the refugee camp pulled out a knife and stabbed an Israeli Staff Sgt. when the border guard unit members had entered a Palestinian bus that was stopped at the checkpoint. The Israeli forces routinely pull over Palestinian vehicles and harass those inside. The Israeli border guard was injured by the knife attack when another armed Israeli opened fire from behind, intending to kill the Palestinian child but instead killing the already injured Israeli border guard. The 13-year-old was arrested, as were a number of his family members that were collectively punished.
The Shuafat refugee camp was then raided, to which Palestinian resistance fighters opened fire on Israeli forces, another major development as the refugee camp was not thought to have a resistance fighter presence there and no armed group has yet been declared. Israeli forces also brutally attacked Palestinian civilians around the refugee camp. Additionally, a Palestinian man who was out to buy goods for his child was critically injured after Israeli forces randomly opened fire on his vehicle with a large barrage of bullets.
Palestinian resistance fighters later decided to open fire at an illegal Israeli settlement called “Homesh”, near Nablus. Shuafat refugee camp announced a strike in response to the brutal incursions into the camp by the Israeli military.
On Tuesday, Israeli occupation forces stormed the Askar refugee camp, in the east of Nablus, in addition to Qusra village (south-Nablus) and Zababdeh town (Jenin), carrying out a number of arrests. Occupation forces also stormed Halhul, north of al-Khalil, with a militarized bulldozer, later seriously injuring a Palestinian man in al-Fara’a refugee camp, south of Tubas. Israeli settlers also attacked Palestinian homes and vehicles in Wadi al-Muzayen (al-Khalil).
Illegal settlers also stormed al-Aqsa mosque again under the protection of armed Israeli occupation police. Elsewhere in al-Khalil, Palestinian discovered that the tires of their cars had been slashed and settlers had sprayed the star of David on their vehicles.
A Palestinian man from Masafer Yatta, Haroun Abu Aram, who was shot in the neck by Israeli occupation forces in 2021, was declared dead. He had been attempting to stop Israeli forces from stealing a generator that his family were using as their supply of electricity when an occupation soldier shot him in the neck at point blank range, the injury left Haroun permanently paralized until the time of his death on Tuesday, he was only 25 years old.
The occupation police expelled residents from the home of the Abu Ayish family, in preparation for its demolition in the city of Akka.
Mahmoud Majed Muhammad Al-Aidi, a 17-year-old Palestinian, shot by the Israeli military during the raid on the al-Fara’a refugee camp, was officially declared dead. A well known human rights activist, Issa Amro, was again assaulted on camera by the Israeli military, in front of well known Western journalists, leading to the incident going viral on social media.
The newspaper Le Figaro reported that French President Emmanuel Macron had instructed France’s foreign ministry to prepare a list of potential candidates to succeed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, revealing a blatant disregard for democracy in Palestine and the intention of foreign interference. A video also revealed that the Israeli occupation forces had assaulted an unarmed Palestinian woman in Shuafat refugee camp, sparking outrage.
Stones were thrown at an Israeli bus near the illegal settlement of Pisgat Ze’ev by Palestinian youths, as Israeli forces launched more raids throughout the West Bank. Settlers again smashed Palestinian vehicles and wrote racist slogans in graffiti in the Jaber neighborhood of al-Khalil.
In Silwan, upon the Israeli forces entering the area, Palestinians threw stones, resulting in the occupation forces shooting tear gas. Israeli forces also stormed Shuafat refugee camp again, as settlers attacked Palestinian homes and vehicles in villages around Nablus.
On Wednesday, occupation forces stormed Kafrdan, West of Jenin, in addition to the village of Tal in Nablus, ransacking multiple homes and arresting young Palestinians.
Israeli occupation forces also decided to destroy a number of buildings in Shuafat refugee camp, where Palestinian businesses and shops were located, leaving behind a pile of rubble. Israeli forces also assaulted a Palestinian school boy when holding up civilians at the Shuafat refugee camp checkpoint.
The occupation prison authorities locked the bathrooms and showers in the Nafha military prison, in order to punish the political prisoners by not allowing them to take showers, this affected 360 detainees. Palestinians were also repeatedly humiliated by Israeli soldiers who forced them to strip unnecessarily at the Shuafat refugee camp checkpoint.
The Arab Index poll for 2022 was released and indicated that 94% of Jordanians reject their government's recognition of Israel and want Amman’s normalization deal abandoned. The occupation military destroyed the home of Shaab al-Butm in Masafer Yatta, located south of al-Khalil.
The car of a Palestinian citizen of Israel named Omar Shaaban exploded in the city of Lyd, killing him immediately, the reason behind this was unknown. Random arrests were carried out at checkpoints throughout the West Bank, with unarmed Palestinians being blindfolded and their hands bound behind their backs.
Israeli occupation forces entered the area of Masafer Yatta and uprooted 100 trees belonging to the people of Khallet al-Dabaa. The occupation army also stormed Tulkarm and then closed the roads surrounding the town of Hawara, near Nablus, with military vehicles.
Implementing their policy of collective punishment, Israeli occupation forces stormed the family home of Muhammad Jabari, who shot dead an illegal Israeli settler in Kiryat Arba settlement. The occupation forced 30 families into the streets at night, to sleep in the cold, in order to clear the way to prevent resistance to them, whilst destroying the family home of the Palestinian resistance fighter, who they already killed. Israel has a policy of carrying out revenge against the entire family of any Palestinian who kills an Israeli.
A light homemade explosive was thrown by members of the Jenin Brigades, at the Jalameh checkpoint in Jenin, the fighters managed to withdraw safely and no Israeli soldiers were injured either. The occupying army later raided Husan village in Bethlehem, where kids came to throw stones at them.
Israel’s Knesset voted through a new racist law that will strip the citizenships of Palestinian citizens of Israel and will deport them, if they are involved in an attack on an Israeli Jew. Israeli Jews who kill Palestinians will not be deported or have their citizenships revoked.
Heavy gunfire was reported towards the Surra military checkpoint, coming from members of the Lions Den armed group, The Qalandia checkpoint was also targeted by a light home-made explosive, in addition to another shooting towards the Beit Furik checkpoint, east of Nablus.
On Thursday, Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem was stormed by Israeli forces, as was the city of al-Bireh and some of the surrounding villages of Ramallah. Israeli soldiers also packed the streets of Beit Kahil, northwest of al-Khalil, in yet another arrest raid. The city of Jenin was also stormed, however, the Jenin Brigades had barricaded the entrances to the Jenin refugee camp with bollards and Chechen Hedgehogs, so when the military jeeps arrived they had to try and exit their vehicles in order to enter, where they came under fire. One soldier ran away in fear and the Israeli military withdrew, having failed their mission to enter. This tactic of blocking the entrances to refugee camps was later adopted in Balata camp (in Nablus) and in other areas like Tubas.
Illegal Israeli settlers celebrated as the family home of Muhammad Jabari was blown up in al-Khalil, this happened as 30 families were left homeless for the night.
Teacher Union strike protests continued in Nablus and Ramallah, as a protest also took place in Ariha (Jericho) against the PA’s ministry of transport and communications. Occupation forces then stormed the town of Beit Rima, in northwest Ramallah. In response to the teachers on strike, the PA ministry of education decided to deduct 7 days' salary from those involved. Israeli settler fanatics also performed rituals and provocative dances at the gates of al-Aqsa Mosque.
Palestinian factories in al-Khalil produced 30,000 sleeping bags to send to earthquake victims in Turkiye and Syria. Occupation forces stormed the family home of the political prisoner Ahmed Mansara, stealing gold jewellery and cash, in addition to trashing the house. The Israeli military prison administration in Ramon jail refused to give insulin treatment to diabetic prisoners after they refused to go to the clinic with their hands tied as a precondition, it was reported.
Israeli occupation police forces stormed the Bedouin village of Araqib, in al-Naqab, destroying it completely for the 213th consecutive time and displacing its residents once again. Israeli settlers also attacked Palestinian Jerusalemites in the Wadi Hilweh neighbourhood of Silwan, whilst the occupation forces monitored events.
On Friday, Israeli forces stormed the town of Anata in occupied Jerusalem, carrying out a number of arrests. Five Palestinians were also arrested in raids conducted throughout the West Bank.
Occupation forces also attacked Palestinians, and confiscated Palestinian flags, outside a building that is threatened with demolition in the Wadi Qaddum area of occupied East Jerusalem.
In Beit Dajan, east of Nablus, Israeli forces confronted demonstrators; shooting tear gas and bullets at them. Demonstrations also took place in Beita village, Qaryut, Kafr Qaddoum and Biddu. Israeli settlers also uprooted 70 Palestinian owned trees in Masafer Yatta.
Palestinians in the al-Zawaida area of the besieged Gaza Strip demonstrated in support of the political prisoners who are currently under attack. Young Palestinians also decided to send flaming balloons over the separation wall to land in Israeli settlement areas, hoping they will set fires.
Israeli settler fanatics decided to establish a new illegal settlement outpost on Palestinian owned land near the village of Farata, located east of Qalqilya. Demonstrations erupted at the separation wall between the Gaza Strip and Israel. An Israeli soldier shot and injured a young man, east of al-Bureij, in Gaza.
In response to the statement made by the Lions Den armed group in Nablus, Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem went to the streets to protest the occupation and its home demolitions.
Palestinians from the 1948 occupied lands began taking buses into occupied Jerusalem to pray at al-Aqsa mosque and stand against attempts to change the status quo there in favour of extremist settlers. Around 80,000 Palestinians performed Friday Prayer at al-Aqsa.
As a note on this series of articles, each piece focuses on the key events of each day during the past week and is heavily focused, as a result, on the Gaza Strip and West Bank. There are various other developments that are taking place on a daily basis, throughout occupied Palestine, that are too numerous to include. However, these are the highlights from each day and hopefully work to give you a more in depth picture of what shapes the lives of Palestinians under occupation.
Thank you, brother, for documenting these atrocities. Just reading it makes me sick and it is impossible to imagine the depth of humiliation and suffering of the Palestinians. I have little confidence in international judicial forums but if there is ever a serious inquiry, your work (and others) will play a role.