Report on Israel’s Crimes and Violations of Palestinians’ Rights in the West Bank in June 2024

During the reporting period, the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) and Israeli settlers continue their violence against Palestinians and their properties in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, amounting to crimes and other violations of international law. These crimes have included willful killings, destruction of public and private property, arrests, threats, among others.

In this report, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) highlights a number of monitored and documented crimes and violations committed by IOF and Israeli settlers against the Palestinians:

Killings and violation of the right to life and bodily integrity

The IOF and settlers’ attacks during the reporting period in the West Bank have resulted in the killing of 36 Palestinians, including 18 civilians; amongst them 8 children, and the rest were members of the Palestinian armed groups. Ten of these members were extrajudicially killed (assassinations), and the rest were killed during Israel’s incursions into Palestinian cities.  

So far in 2024, IOF attacks have killed 246 Palestinians, including 53 children, and 4 women.

According to our field documentation, Israel has employed different methods and weaponry, either by shooting in protests or confrontations, military raids and assaults, drone strikes, or by carrying out extrajudicial killings by Israeli special units.

On 01 June 2024, IOF killed 3 Palestinian civilians, including a child, in two separate crimes during an incursion into Aqbat Jaber refugee camp in Al-Bireh governorate and Ramallah governorate.

On 03 June 2024, IOF extrajudicially killed 3 Palestinians, including two civilians, after IOF raided a wedding hall coinciding with a wedding ceremony held there in Balata refugee camp east of Nablus, in northern West Bank. (Details available at PCHR’s press release).

On 06 June 2024, IOF killed 3 Palestinians, including two civilians; one was a child, in two separate crimes during an incursion into Ya’bad village and Jenin refugee camp.

On 10 June 2024, IOF killed 5 Palestinians, including a child, and wounded ten others, including three children, in Far’a refugee camp in southern Tubas governorate.

On 11 June 2024, 6 Palestinians, including three civilians; one was a child, were killed in Kafr Dan village, west of Jenin city. Three of them were killed after IOF besieged a house and bombed it while three others were killed during clashes in the area.

On 22 June 2024, IOF shot dead Na’im ‘Abdullah Samhah (15) with a bullet in his chest in clashes erupted after IOF’s incursion into Qalqilya. 

On 22 June 2024, Mohammad Murad Hoshiyah (12) succumbed to his injury after IOF shot him in clashes that accompanied an incursion into Al-Bireh on 14 June 2024.

On 30 June 2024, Israeli warplanes bombed with several missiles a house in Al-Manshiya neighborhood in Nur Shams refugee camp east of Tulkarm.  As a result, a member of the Palestinian armed groups, was killed and five civilians were wounded while passing by the house; two of whom are in critical condition. 

Meanwhile, during the reporting period, 102 Palestinians were injured, including 31 children and 13 women. Among those injured, 13 are in critical condition.

So far since the beginning of this year, IOF’s attacks resulted in the injury of 718 Palestinians, including 150 children, 8 women, a paramedic and a journalist.

Demolition and land-razing

During the reporting period, the IOF and Israeli settlers demolished 120 facilities, including 37 houses; 33 of which were demolished under the pretext of unlicensed construction, 4 were self-demolished by their owners in Ras Al-‘Amoud neighborhood in Silwan in Jerusalem to avoid paying high municipal demolition fees, and 5 were demolished during IOF incursion and airstrikes on Jenin refugee camp in western Jenin and Nur Shams refugee camp in eastern Tulkarm, as well as Kafr Dan and Qabatiya villages in Jenin. Meanwhile, the rest facilities destroyed (84) were public and private facilities, including private chalets, animal farms, residential tents, commercial facilities, agricultural rooms, a kindergarten, cement walls, and water wells (rainwater harvesters and groundwater wells).  Also, 150 fruitful olive trees were uprooted.

Moreover, during their incursions, IOF bulldozers conducted extensive destruction to the cities and refugee camps in the West Bank, particularly to the infrastructure including water pipes, telephone and electricity lines in Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus and Al-Far’a refugee camp, south of Tubas. They also demolished a shop, detonated 3 vehicles in the camp’s square, and another vehicle in Jenin refugee camp, west of Jenin.

Land confiscations and settlement expansion

During the reporting period, the IOF and Israeli settlers continued their settlement expansion policy materialized in confiscating and razing Palestinian lands to establish settlement outposts and expand settlements. 

On 02 June 2024, settlers set up three caravans on the lands of Shaab Al-Butm, east of Yatta, to establish a new settlement outpost.

On 05 June 2024, IOF razed lands in Wadi Qana, a tourist attraction in Salfit, to expand settlements.

On 11 June 2024, settlers set up several caravans on Palestinian-owned lands in Khallat al-Daba’, east of Yatta in Hebron to establish a new settlement outpost.

On 14 June 2024, settlers planted trees on Palestinian-owned lands in Sadeh Al-Thala area, east of Yatta, to seize confiscate these lands and expand “Itskhar Man” settlement outpost.

On 17 June 2024, settlers set up big canopies and wooden and tin dwellings in Shaab Al-Bahrain in Bani Na’im town to establish a new settlement outpost.

On 26 June 2024, IOF razed 3 dunums of olive tree-planted land in the village of Umm Al-Rihan in Jenin.

IOF also handed a decision to Hebron Municipality to take over the old central vegetable market complex “Al-Hisba”, which includes the “Al-Atq Market” in the old city of Hebron, with the aim of adding new floors to the existing buildings in the market for settlement expansion purposes.

Punitive Measures

On 27 June 2024, the Cabinet approved measures proposed by far-right Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, that aim to legalize the settlement outposts and impose sanctions against the Palestinian Authority (PA). According to the Israeli Broadcasting Authority (IBA), these measures include legalization of five illegal outposts in the West Bank: Givat Assaf, Adorayim, Sde Ephraim, Evyatar, and Heletz; and approval the issuance of tenders for thousands of new housing units in settlements. Additionally, the plan involves revoking permits and benefits for PA officials, restricting their movement, and preventing senior officials from leaving the country. The plan aims to remove executive powers from the PA in the southern West Bank and Area (B), and conduct house and building demolitions under the pretext of illegal construction. Moreover, they will harm heritage sites and pose environmental risks.

This plan is an Israeli retaliatory measure in response to five countries officially recognizing Palestine.

Raids and arrests

The IOF have conducted 840 raids into Palestinian cities, refugee camps, and villages across the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, storming into several houses, going through their 

residents’ belongings, while damaging some, and abusing and subjecting their residents to ill-treatment. During these raids, the IOF have arrested 650 Palestinians^[1], including 24 children and 9 women; one of whom was a journalist, while they confiscated 3 trucks, 6 private vehicles, 5 diggers, an agricultural tractor, 2 waste water tank and a concrete pump.  Also, they confiscated 3600 shekels, computers and mobile phones in Arraba, south of Jenin. 

Settler violence

This month, Israeli settlers conducted 52 attacks against Palestinian villages and cities across the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem, mainly in the proximity of Nablus governorate, Za’tara road intersections, and near “Aliyah” settlement. In these attacks, settlers’ fire wounded 10 Palestinians, including 3 children, and a woman. They also burnt a house in Burqa while they burnt 2 agricultural rooms and a power network In Qasra town, southeastern Nablus in addition to 2 commercial facilities, a barrack and a farm, and wrote anti-Arab and Muslim slogans on the burnt houses signed by the extremist Israeli group, “Hilltop Youth.” Additionally, they burned five vehicles, an excavator, and a potable water tanker, and smashed the windows of 22 civilian vehicles inflicting structural damage to them.  They also assaulted 11 Palestinians, including two children, a firefighter, and a woman, using various means such as sticks, sharp objects, and stones. They attacked 18 homes, smashed their windows, and stole 204 sheep, slaughtering some of them. Moreover, a group of settlers uprooted 262 olive trees and 300,000 fruit-bearing trees in a nursery, burned 794 olive trees in the West Bank, and set hundreds of dunums of Palestinian farmers’ lands ablaze in the West Bank.

On 03 June 2024, settlers attacked several ambulances on Yitzhar Street and the Al-Murabb’ah checkpoint connecting the city of Nablus with its villages and towns.

On 06 June 2024, a group of settlers from the “Esh Kodesh” settlement outpost, attacked the outskirts of Qasra, southeast of Nablus, and set fire to the power network, an agricultural room, and Palestinian-owned lands, and wounded a child with a bullet in the foot.

On 09 June 2024, settlers, protected by IOF, carried out an attack in eastern Urif village, southeast of Nablus. They set fire to a private vehicle, smashed the windows of a house, and shot six Palestinians, including two children.

Settlers also carried out an attack on Burqa village, northwest of Nablus, and burned a house belonging to Raed Yassin who lives in Burqa.

On 12 June 2024, a group of armed settlers attacked a shop in “Al-Bazaar” market in the Old City of Jerusalem, and one of them opened fire at the shop’s owner and his son, wounding them both.

IOF attacks in Jerusalem

IOF’s violations and Judaization attempts continued in occupied Jerusalem by approving the building of hundreds of new settlement units and entrenching their house demolition policy against Palestinians under various pretexts. 

On 01 June 2024, the Jerusalem Municipality in Ras Al-‘Amoud neighborhood in East Jerusalem forced Tareq Zyada  to self-demolish his house in Silwan, forcibly displacing his family of 4, including two children.

On 05 June 2024, groups of settlers, led by members of Knesset and ministers from the Israeli government, organized a march of Israeli flags in the areas of Bab al-Amoud and Bab al-Khalil, passing through the neighborhoods of the Old City of Jerusalem, and arriving at Al-Buraq Square adjacent to Al-Aqsa Mosque, and attacked a number of Palestinians and journalists.  They chanted slogans and songs calling for the death of Arabs and burning Palestinian towns.

On 07 June 2024, the Israeli municipality forced Amjad Mohammad Mahmoud, a resident of Al-Issawiya, to self-demolish his house, forcibly displacing a family of 7, including three children.

On 08 June 2024, the Israeli municipality forced ‘Ata Shuqairat, a resident of Jabal Mukaber, to self-demolish a residential building, forcibly displacing 43 people, including 17 children and 9 women.

On 29 June 2024, the Israeli municipality forced Abdullah Abu Sbitan, a resident of the Al-Tur neighborhood, to self-demolish his house.

Restriction on freedom of movement and checkpoints

The IOF have established more military checkpoints in the West Bank and tightened restrictions on freedom of movement between the cities and villages, rendering them isolated and entrenching the geographical fragmentation. During the reporting period, the IOF established 220 temporary checkpoints along the streets and between the villages. They also erected tens of permanent checkpoints aiming to restrict Palestinians’ freedom of movement by searching and arresting them. During the reporting period, IOF arrested 21 Palestinians, including a child, at those checkpoints.

Palestinians are subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment at checkpoints, hindering their movement and endangering their lives based on mere fallacious suspicions that have led to their killing or arrest allegedly for being “wanted”. These checkpoints have also brought unbearable suffering to Palestinian women, particularly pregnant women, after being delayed at these checkpoints. 

On 10 June 2024, Baraa Mohammad ‘Ali ‘Issa, a resident of Al-Khader, was admitted to the governmental hospital in Bethlehem after sustaining injuries and fractures in his hand, jaw and nose as a result of IOF’s severe beating and assault at the Al Container checkpoint, northeast of Bethlehem.

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[1] Statistics based on the Palestinian Prisoners Club’s monitoring.