OHCHR: Israeli security forces have killed 36 Palestinians, including eight children, in 10 days during an operation in northern West Bank, while settler violence intensifies

06 September 2024

Since 27-28 August, an operation on a scale not experienced for two decades saw Israeli security forces (ISF) attack with airstrikes, shelling, live ammunition, and bulldozers, refugee camps and cities across northern West Bank, killing 36 Palestinians, including eight children (seven boys and one girl), in Jenin, Tulkarem, and Tubas governorates. Fourteen of those killed were killed by airstrikes, four by ground-to- ground missiles, seventeen were shot and killed with live ammunition, and one man (58-years-old) was found dead, with signs of beating and handcuffing, after being arrested at his home by ISF and detained for several hours. One Israeli soldier was killed by an improvised explosive device.

Bulldozer stands in the distance on a completely destroyed street in the West Bank, Palestine. The road and sidewalk are torn apart, with rubble and debris scattered across the area, conveying the aftermath of ISF destruction. Photo by UNRWA

Information gathered so far indicates a prevalence of unnecessary, disproportionate and thus unlawful use of force by ISF, including through airstrikes to arbitrarily kill Palestinians “wanted” by ISF, as well as the arbitrary deprivation of life of unarmed Palestinians, including children and older persons. In the most recent incidents, on 3 September in Jenin, ISF shot in the head and killed a 16-year-old Palestinian girl while she was at her home in Kafr Dan. ISF subsequently shot at paramedics, and at journalists, attempting to approach the girl’s home, injuring three Palestinian journalists. According to eyewitnesses, on 4 September, in Al Faraˈ camp, Tubas, ISF shot an unarmed 17-year-old boy, first in the leg and then at point blank range in the neck, and took him away on the large front blade of a bulldozer. The boy was found four hours later by paramedics, dead, naked and disfigured. On 6 September, after nine days of continuous siege and attacks, ISF apparently withdrew from Jenin, as well as from Tulkarem though concerns remain they will return for further military operations. In a separate incident, on 6 September ISF shot in the head and killed a 26-year-old American activist in Beita, Nablus, while she was participating in a peaceful anti- settlement protest.

In addition to these unlawful killings, ISF destroyed – through airstrikes, shelling and the use of bulldozers – homes, shops, roads as well as water, sewage and electricity infrastructure, leaving thousands of Palestinian residents for days without access to essential services and supplies, including food, while stuck in their homes under curfew. This may amount to the collective punishment of the Palestinian population, which is a war crime. In Jenin alone, where ISF’s operation in the camp continued without interruption for nine consecutive days, Palestinian officials estimated that 20 km of essential water, sewage, electricity, and communication networks were bulldozed and 70% of the road network was destroyed. Over 1,000 Palestinian families from the Jenin Refugee Camp and the Eastern neighbourhood of the city were forced to leave their homes, either because they were taken over and used by ISF during the operation, or due to the intensity of the violence and their inability to access essential supplies. They are currently sheltering in neighbouring villages. Destruction and the forced displacement of Palestinians was also reported in Tulkarem and its refugee camps, although figures are not yet available due to the inaccessibility of roads and other restrictions obstructing the movement of medics, civil defence and humanitarian workers.

State violence along with settlement expansion and discriminatory movement restrictions continues to lead to mass displacement and the further unlawful annexation of large parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, threatening the viability of the Palestinian State. Over the past weeks, groups of settlers backed by ISF have been terrorizing multiple herding communities in Ein Al Hilweh and Farisiya in northern Jordan Valley, leaving increasing numbers of Palestinian herders with no other choice but to leave their lands, to the benefit of settlers. The UN Human Rights Office recorded increasing attacks on Palestinians as well as activists trying to provide a protective presence, with settlers driving quad bikes and entering tents, including at night with high beams turned on, and filming women and children inside their tents, throwing stones, using pepper spray, stealing fodder and agricultural equipment, blocking access to water and grazing land, and threatening communities at gunpoint in order to force them to leave. On 5 September, the UN Human Rights Office was informed that approximately 50 herders were forced to leave under this coercive environment, from Ein l-Hilweh-Wadi Al-Fao and Al-Jiftlik-Ashuneh in the Jordan Valley. Other herding communities such as Farisiya-Nab’ al Ghazal in the northern Jordan Valley, Arab Al-Mulaihat in Al Mu’arjat, and Ras Ein Al-Auja in Jericho remain under intensive daily attacks and imminent risk of forcible transfer.