UN OCHA Protection of Civilians Weekly Report: June 16 – 22, 2015

by Middle East and Europe | published on Jun 25, 2015

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs publishes a weekly Protection of Civilians report. The current update covers the period between June 16-22, 2015. To view the complete version of the report, including a series of charts with the main indicators, click here.

Highlights:

A 25-year-old Israeli civilian was shot and killed and another Israeli civilian injured, reportedly by a Palestinian, while the two were touring an area near the village of Deir ‘Ibzi’ (Ramallah). The perpetrator fled the scene. In East Jerusalem, an 18-year-old Palestinian youth from Sair (Hebron) stabbed and severely injured an Israeli border policeman, and was subsequently shot and critically injured by the latter. In response to these two attacks, the Israeli authorities cancelled permits issued to residents of Sair (Hebron) to enter East Jerusalem for the Friday prayers of Ramadan, as well as 500 permits issued to Palestinians for travel via the Ben Gurion airport.
Israeli forces injured a total of 19 Palestinians, including two children, in multiple incidents across the West Bank. The injuries took place mainly in clashes during the weekly demonstration against the closure of one of the main entrances to Kafr Qaddum village (Qalqiliya), and during an arrest operation in ‘Isawiya and during clashes near Damascus Gate, both in East Jerusalem.
In two separate incidents in the Access Restricted Areas (ARA) on land and at sea in the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces shot three civilians, including a child, in the ARA near the fence surrounding Gaza. On at least one other occasion, Israeli forces opened fire towards fishermen present near the 6-nautical-mile fishing limit, resulting in no injuries. On one occasion, Israeli forces entered and leveled land, approximately 100 meters into the Gaza Strip, east of Gaza City.
62 Palestinians, including 27 children, were displaced from their homes in Humsa Al Buqia’a in the northern Jordan Valley for six hours during an Israeli military training exercise. This is the fourth instance since the beginning of the year that this herding community has been temporarily displaced.
The Israeli authorities demolished one Palestinian residential structure in Beit Hanina in East Jerusalem for lack of Israeli-issued building permits, displacing two Palestinians.
Five Israeli settler attacks resulting in damage to Palestinian property were recorded, including the vandalizing of 35 olive trees between Yassuf (Salfit) and Jamma’in (Nablus). The remaining incidents involved stone throwing at Palestinian vehicles.
In addition to the casualties reported above, five Israelis were injured during the week in five separate incidents involving stone-throwing at their vehicles in the Jerusalem and Ramallah governorates.
Israeli forces cut and uprooted approximately 20, 000 five year old saplings, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture, planted by the latter in Area C, near Tubas city. The Israeli authorities issued evacuation orders against the saplings in September of 2014, on grounds that the land is designated as both a natural reserve and a firing zone.
On the first Friday of Ramadan, around 50,000 Palestinians from other parts of the West Bank entered East Jerusalem through four designated checkpoints along the Barrier, compared to around 11,000 in 2014, and around 76,000 in 2013.
Around 200 Palestinians entered from the Gaza Strip. Palestinian male West Bank ID-holders above 40, women of all ages and children below 12, were allowed to cross without permits on Friday and eligibility requirements for other Palestinians to apply for Friday entry permits, were relaxed to include male West Bank ID-holders between 12 and 40 years of age as well as men above 60 and women above 50 from the Gaza Strip.. On days other than Friday, applications for entry permits from all age groups were reportedly considered.
In the context of the Ramadan relaxation measures the Israeli authorities re-opened a road connecting Hebron City to Bani Na’im, which had been blocked since 2000, facilitating access to services and livelihoods.
The Rafah crossing was opened between 16 and 19 June in both directions, allowing 1,985 Palestinians, mainly patients and students, to leave and 269 people to enter Gaza. This brings to 22 the number of days in which the crossing has been partially opened since its closure on 24 October 2014, following an attack in Sinai.