Good Shepherd Collective Weekly Report
Intro
Since October 7, Israel has killed at least 31,043 people in Gaza, wounding 76,666. The death toll is widely understood to be a massive underestimate, as thousands remain under the rubble or on streets, with family members unable to rescue or retrieve them. The state’s targeted destruction of entire Palestinian neighborhoods has killed 13,536 children, 8,900 women, and 8,607 men. Israeli attacks on hospitals, ambulances, and emergency responders have claimed the lives of 364 medical workers and 48 emergency personnel. To suppress Palestinians from narrating the Israeli genocide in Gaza, Israel has killed 132 journalists as well as many of their family members. Israel’s prolonged aggression against Palestinians in Gaza, the vast majority of whom are refugees from other parts of Palestine, is one of the deadliest in history.
Israel’s indigenous displacement and erasure is not contained to the Gaza Strip but also extends across the West Bank, Jerusalem, and the lands occupied since 1948. Since October 7, Israeli forces have increased violent incursions into Palestinian refugee camps across the West Bank, in particular, raiding communities, destroying essential infrastructure, carrying out mass arrest campaigns, and killing and injuring many Palestinians.
On March 2, Israeli forces fatally shot a 13-year-old Mohammad Khaled Zaid and injured another at the entrance to Al Jalazone refugee camp in Ramallah. Israeli troops left Mohammad to bleed for an hour before allowing emergency responders to reach him. That same day, 16-year-old Mohammad al-Deek was killed by Israeli forces during an incursion into Kafr Ni’ma village, Ramallah.
On March 4, Israeli forces killed a 16-year-old resident of Qalandiya refugee camp, Mustafa Abu Shalbak, and injured two others in the Al Amari refugee camp in Ramallah. The same day, Israeli forces murdered a 10-year-old Amr Muhammad Najjar in Burin, south of Nablus. He was shot in the head while with his father. It was reported that another Palestinian approached Amr after he was wounded and was also shot in the chest by Israeli forces.
Since October 7, 2023, Israeli forces have killed 412 Palestinians, including 106 children, across the West Bank alone. They have inflicted injuries on 4,623 Palestinians in the West Bank during this time, with 710 being children.
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The Israeli authorities demolished 18 structures in the Jericho area on February 29, citing a lack of Israel-issued building permits. This action displaced seven people, including three children. The demolitions mainly affected residential buildings, external kitchens, bathrooms, agricultural structures, and solar panels. Since October 7, 2023, 599 individuals, including 285 children, have faced displacement in Area C and East Jerusalem due to such demolitions.
Additionally, on January 24, Israeli authorities punitively sealed a house in Beit Hanina, East Jerusalem, displacing four people. This house was linked to a Palestinian who had injured two soldiers in a shooting incident before being killed by Israeli forces. In total, 23 homes have been punitively demolished, and two sealed off since October 7, displacing 121 Palestinians, including 51 children. Punitive demolitions such as these amount to collective punishment, as demolishing homes impacts entire families.
OCHA has documented 607 attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians since October 7, 2023, resulting in murder, injury, property damage, or a combination. The vast majority of these attacks go unprosecuted. By allowing settler citizens, rather than the state, to use violence to displace Palestinians, the Israeli state creates a narrative of “a few bad apples” or “fringe extremists.” In reality, Israeli forces are very often present to protect settlers during violent attacks. Financed by the Israeli state and the US nonprofit system, Israeli settler violence has been the single most significant contributing factor in Palestinian displacement across the West Bank since October 7.
Between October 7, 2023, and January 21, 2024, Israeli state-sanctioned settler violence displaced some 198 Palestinian households, impacting 1,208 individuals, including 586 children.
The affected households come from at least 15 herding and Bedouin communities. A significant portion of these displacements, more than half, occurred on three specific dates: October 12th, 15th, and 28th, impacting seven communities and affecting a total of 1,539 people, including 756 children.
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