On 14 August 2008, in the middle of the night, soldiers entered the home of the Abu 'Aker family, in the Deheishe refugee camp, to arrest the father. They ordered him and his children to undress in front of them, severely beat the father, slapped his thirteen-year-old son, and turned the house upside down, breaking things in the process. B'Tselem demanded the Judge Advocate General's Office to investigate the incident.

Over the past year, Israel has escalated its policy of separating the populations of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The separation regime splits families, puts thousands at risk of expulsion to the Gaza Strip and turns Palestinians into "illegal aliens" in their own homes, as revealed in a position paper published today (10 September) by HaMoked and B'Tselem.

According to B'Tselem's data, 13 Palestinian minors are being held in prolonged administrative detention in Israel, in breach of law. As of June '08, 730 Palestinians are currently being held in administrative detention in Israel.

In a case first reported by B'Tselem, the District Court in Jerusalem today convicted Shahar Butbika and Dennis Alhazov for the killing of 'Imran Abu Hamdiya. Two other border policemen, Yaniv Lazleh and Assam Wahabi, were previously convicted in the case. In December 2002, the four policemen grabbed Hamdiya, a seventeen-year-old youth, beat him severely, and threw him from a moving jeep.

B'Tselem's data indicate that security forces have adopted a practice of reckless firing of rubber-coated steel bullets in the West Bank, killing two Palestinians and injuring many more since the beginning of the year. Since the intifada began, 21 Palestinians have been killed by rubber-coated steel bullet fire, a measure that is meant to be non-lethal.

Two Palestinians were recently sentenced to death in the PA after being convicted of treason and conspiracy for "collaboration" with Israel. Although there is a clear international trend toward eliminating the death penalty, the PA has yet to do so.

On 1 August, after children threw stones at soldiers in the Jalazun refugee camp, a soldier fired a tear gas canister at a young bystander. Following B'Tselem's complaint, an investigation into the incident was opened. Soldiers often fire tear gas canisters directly at Palestinians, despite legal and military prohibitions.

Following a petition against the indictment for "unbecoming conduct", the Israeli High Court has obliged the JAG to justify his decision. The court also suspended military court proceedings until the petition is decided upon.

This morning, Ashraf Abu Rahma, who was shot by IDF soldiers in Ni'lin while handcuffed and blindfolded, together with four Israeli human rights organizations filed an urgent petition to the High Court of Justice against the Judge Advocate General's decision to prosecute the battalion commander, Lt. Col. Omri Borberg, and the soldier who fired the shot, Staff Sgt. L, for "unbecoming conduct," a light offense that does not result in a criminal record.

The facts of the case raise the serious suspicion that the soldiers in the tank, and those who gave them the order to open fire, failed to adhere to the duty to take all possible precautions to avoid the harming of civilians and civilian objectives.

The approvals are an exception to Israel's freeze on handling family unification requests. Although B'Tselem welcomes the action, it emphasizes that Israel is required at all times to respect the fundamental right to a family life and must immediately lift the freeze.

B'Tselem is investigating twelve cases of settler attacks on Palestinian between 29 July and 4 August. These cases reflect a sharp increase in reports of such violence, and represent a peak to an escalation that has been underway over the past few weeks.

The demand follows the decision to charge the lieutenant colonel and the soldier with the relatively light offense of "inappropriate conduct". The High Court stated in 1988: "Harming a bound and helpless person is a shameful and cruel act, and calls for an appropriately severe response".

Last weekend, B'Tselem filmed several settler assaults in Hebron, including minors throwing stones at Palestinian homes. The footage also shows soldiers standing by while a settler attacks a B'Tselem worker, breaking his camera.

The demolition of houses as punishment is a grave breach of international humanitarian law. It is a clear case of collective punishment, which violates the principle that a person is not to be punished for the acts of another.

The Civil Administration has issued orders to demolish most of the houses in the village of al-'Aqabah, which lies in the northern Jordan Valley, and many houses in other villages in the area. Israel's planning policy in the West Bank centers on preventing Palestinian construction and promoting expansion of settlements.

Violent confrontations between Hamas and Fatah have broken out again in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, involving reported violations of international law pertaining to human rights.

Since Israel tightened the siege on Gaza, hundreds of Palestinians have been unable to attend their studies outside it. This denies individuals' right to education and impedes the development of Palestinian society as a whole.

Last month, policemen arrested Tareq Abu Laban while he was out with friends in Tel Aviv. They assaulted him, put him in their car and drove around the city while beating him, and then released him. Abu Laban required medical attention.

Attacks aimed at civilians undermine all rules of morality and law.

The media report that yesterday, only after B'Tselem aired footage of a soldier shooting a bound Palestinian detainee, did the Military Police open an investigation into the incident.

B'Tselem is publishing a video clip documenting a soldier firing a rubber coated steel bullet, from extremely close range, at a cuffed and blindfolded Palestinian detainee. The shooting took place in the presence of a lieutenant colonel, who was holing the Palestinian's arm when the shot was fired.

The village of 'Arab a-Ramadin al-Janubi is a Separation Barrier enclave. Residents say the Civil Administration recently demanded they relocate, contradicting Israel's explicit commitment to the High Court.

The Jerusalem Municipality's gross neglect of East Jerusalem has led to the Dahiyat a-Salam neighborhood becoming a pirate garbage dump. The Municipality has not yet kept its promise to renovate the refuse site.

Four years after the Hague advisory opinion, the Separation Barrier has not been moved in any of the sections that were built and later nullified by the Israeli High Court of Justice.

The army recently severed the Palestinian village a-Nabi Samwil and its 220 residents from the rest of the West Bank, isolating it almost completely. The action is part of Israel's policy to separate Israeli and Palestinian traffic in the West Bank.

The demolition of houses as punishment is a grave breach of international humanitarian law. It is a clear case of collective punishment, which violates the principle that a person is not to be punished for the acts of another.

In late 2007, soldiers arrested Majed Jaradat after he threw stones at a demonstration. Jaradat told B'Tselem that soldiers beat and kicked him while he was detained, and a policeman beat him during a subsequent interrogation. He was then tried and held with adult prisoners for two months.

B'Tselem severely condemns the Palestinian terror attack today in the center of Jerusalem, in which three Israeli civilians were killed and dozens injured. Intentional killing of civilians is a grave breach of international humanitarian law and is considered a war crime that can never be justified, whatever the circumstances may be.

B'Tselem warns against a severe water shortage this summer in the West Bank and its effects on the economic conditions and health of tens of thousands of Palestinians. The chronic water shortage results in large part from Israel's discriminatory water policy.

B'Tselem and PCATI mark June 26, the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, with a new video. The right of every person not to be subjected to ill-treatment or torture (physical or mental) is one of the few human rights that are considered absolute. Therefore, it is forbidden to balance it against other rights and values, or suspend or restrict the right, even in the context of the struggle against terrorism.

On the evening of Friday, 20 June 2008, three settlers assaulted Palestinian shepherds near the Susiya settlement in the Southern Hebron Hills. Nasser a-Nawaj'ah, a B'Tselem fieldworker, filmed the assault and the failure of soldiers on the scene to protect the shepherds. Although filming the incident was lawful, one of the soldiers hit a-Nawaj'ah and stole the video cassette.

On 10 June 2008, The Association for Civil Rights in Israel petitioned the High Court of Justice to order the army to cancel its prohibition on West Bank Palestinians' access to the northern beaches of the Dead Sea, which lie inside the West Bank.

The Israeli police have arrested two settlers suspected of attacking Palestinians in Khirbet Susiya. On 8 June '08, four masked settlers with clubs severely beat three members of the a-Nawaj'ah family who were grazing their flock on private Palestinian land. A fourth member filmed part of the assault with a B'Tselem camera.

Human rights organizations have petitioned the High Court of Justice to allow Gaza Strip residents to visit their relatives being held in prisons and in detention in Israel. The prohibition on visits, which has been in effect for the past year, infringes the fundamental right of relatives and prisoners to family life and breaches Israeli and international law.

On 8 June '08, four masked settlers clubbed three of members of the Nawaj'ah family, who were grazing their flock on private Palestinian lands south of the Susiya settlement. The victims suffered severe bruises and bleeding and required hospitalization. The family captured the beginning of the attack with a video camera handed out by B'Tselem's "Shooting Back" project.

Settlers tried to prevent residents of 'Asira al-Qibliya from putting out a fire in their fields. B'Tselem wrote to the police and the army demanding that they investigate the suspicion of arson and attacks perpetrated by soldiers and settlers throughout the incident.

In February 2008, Fawziyeh a-Dark suffered a heart attack and died after soldiers prevented her passage to hospital. Now, her husband gives B'Tselem a video testimony of the events leading up to her death.

B'Tselem severely condemns the Palestinian mortar fire today (5.6.08) on Kibbutz Nir Oz, in the south of Israel, which killed an Israeli civilian and wounded four others.

In a letter to the head of the Israel Security Agency B'Tselem protested the summoning of Salah Haj Yihya, head of medical clinics of Physicians for Human Rights, for questioning by the ISA.

Five Palestinian landowners and human rights organizations Yesh Din and B'Tselem claim in first petition of its kind: Ofra is an illegal outpost built mostly on private land.

Israel refuses to provide a solution for residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip whose parents did not register them in the population registry at birth. Living without ID cards, these persons are often barred from realizing basic rights such as the right to work, to education, to family life, and more.

Yuval Salomon from Kibbut Or Haner describes the fear and uncertainty of life near the Gaza Strip.

B'Tselem wrote to the Justice Ministry to protest its response to the World Bank's report on the effects on the Palestinian economy resulting from Israel's restrictions on movement in the West Bank. The response included distorted and misleading data regarding several issues, including roads forbidden to Palestinians and planning and building in Area C.

Nufuz al-Husni 44, a mother of six, suffers from intestinal cancer, for which she had been treated in Israel. In February 2008, she sought to return to Ichilov Hospital, in Tel Aviv, for treatment, but Israeli officials have not allowed her to enter the country.

Since the end of the Second Lebanon War, 33 civilians have been killed and hundreds wounded by cluster bombs. Israel's responsibility for these casualties and lessons from the past require Israel to play a significant role in drafting international convention

The health situation in the Gaza Strip has been steadily deteriorating since Israel tightened its siege on the area in June 2007. The closure of all entrances and exits from Gaza has barred patients from receiving treatments unavailable within Gaza and has caused a grave dearth of medical supplies.

In light of the recent escalation in violence around the Gaza Strip, including a Grad rocket strike on a mall in the Israeli city of Ashkelon, the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem has repeated its demand that all parties protect civilians from the fighting.

Ya'akov and Lilach Swisa, a disabled couple, struggle with unemployment and accessibility problems to raise their children under the threat of rocket fire in Sderot.

Following a letter from B'Tselem, the Military Police has opened an investigation into an incident that took place on 14 March, in which an army officer fired a rubber-coated steel bullet at a demonstrator in the village of Bil'in, wounding him.

Samira a-Daghmeh, 13, told B'Tselem that soldiers blew up the door to the family's home in the Gaza Strip while her mother and siblings were inside, killing her mother. Soldiers stayed in the home for several hours without evacuating her to a hospital, and then exited the house, leaving her body with her children.

B'Tselem strongly condemns the Qassam rocket fire at the Israeli community of Yesha in the south of Israel, which killed an Israeli civilian. Attacks aimed at civilians are immoral, inhuman, and illegal.

B'Tselem severely condemns the Palestinian mortar fire on Kibutz Kfar 'Aza, in the south of Israel, which yesterday (9 May 08) killed an Israeli civilian and wounded others. Attacks aimed at civilians are immoral, inhuman, and illegal.

B'Tselem repeated its call to the Israeli army's Judge Advocate General to open a Military Police investigation into the death of five members of the Abu Me'tiq family in Beit Hanun on 28 April.

B'Tselem's investigation indicates that an Israeli aircraft fired two missiles at armed Palestinians, the second of which landed about one meter from the gate of the Abu Me'tiq family's house.

The Jerusalem District Court has sentenced a border policeman to 6˝ years' imprisonment for killing 'Imran Abu Hamdiyeh in 2002. The policeman, along with three others, threw Abu Hamdiyeh from a speeding jeep after they had abducted, beaten, and abused him. The affair was exposed by B'Tselem and al-Haq.

Despite its claims of removing physical obstructions to "ease" movement, Israel continues to impose sweeping restrictions on Palestinian movement in the West Bank.

B'Tselem severely condemns the Palestinian terror attack that took place in the Nitzanei Shalom industrial zone. Attacks aimed at civilians are immoral, inhuman, and illegal.

Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana'a was killed by a Flechette shell. B'Tselem demands that the Israeli Army's Judge Advocate General order the immediate cessation of the use of this prohibited weapon in the Gaza Strip, and open a criminal investigation of the event.

Five Human Rights organizations filed a petition to the High Court of Justice demanding the Court prohibit the use of family members by the GSS to pressure interrogees

B'Tselem severely condemns the Palestinian terror attack that took place in a fuel depot at Nahal Oz, on the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip. Attacks aimed at civilians are immoral, inhuman, and illegal.

A year ago, B'Tselem launched "Shooting Back", a video advocacy project focusing on the Occupied Territories. We give out video cameras to Palestinians who live in high-conflict areas, so that they can document violations of their human rights and seek redress. Sample footage is now available on the website.

The Civil Administration delivered orders to demolish two houses in Far'un that were built several years before the Separation Barrier. In 2007, Israel demolished seven houses in the village, which has been harmed by the barrier in any event.

Authorities must investigate the killing of four Palestinians defined by Israel as "wanted persons", on 12 March 2008. B'Tselem's investigation raises the suspicion that security forces executed the four in flagrant violation of a High Court ruling, which prohibits intentionally killing Palestinians taking part in hostilities when they can be arrested.

On 11 March 2008, the Department for Investigation of Police arrested two policemen from the Ma'ale Adumim police station. The two are suspected of severely abusing a Palestinian from al-'Eizariya, a neighborhood in East Jerusalem. The arrest followed a complaint made by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel.

Since the new settlement was established in the A-Ras neighborhood, attacks on Palestinian residents and violation of their rights have increased. Families have had to put up protective fences to prevent settlers from invading and attacking their homes.

B'Tselem wrote to the Attorney General demanding that he prevent the planned demolition. The declared objective of this policy is to harm innocent persons - relatives of suspected perpetrators of attacks, who are not themselves accused of any crime.

Route 443 serves Israeli commuters traveling between the two largest cities in Israel - Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The road runs through the West Bank, but Palestinians are strictly prohibited from using it.

B'Tselem severely condemns the Palestinian terror attack that took place in a yeshiva (religious school) in Jerusalem, in which 8 Israeli civilians, including 4 minors were killed and many other persons were injured. Attacks aimed at civilians are immoral, inhuman, and illegal.

On 6 January 2008, a thirteen-year-old girl from the village of Nu'man touched the separation barrier that surrounds the village during an argument with her friend. Border Police officers came to the village, where they acted in a violent and frightening manner.

According to B'Tselem figures, from 27 February to the afternoon of 3 March, 106 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip. Contrary to the Chief of Staff's contention that ninety percent were armed, at least fifty-four of the dead (twenty-five of them minors) did not take part in the hostilities. In addition, at least forty-six minors were wounded.

Route 443 is the main traffic artery south of Ramallah District. Since 2002, the army has prohibited Palestinians from using the road, using security arguments. Now the road, which links Jerusalem and the Tel-Aviv area, serves only Israelis.

On 7 February 2008, soldiers fired a missile that landed in the yard of an agricultural school in Beit Hanun, in the northern Gaza Strip. In his testimony to B'Tselem, one of the school's students described how the missile, which struck at the beginning of classes, killed a teacher and wounded him and two of his cousins.

B'Tselem expressed its grave concern following the renewed fighting in Gaza. During the first 2 months of 2008, Israeli security forces killed 146 Palestinians. At least 42 did not participate in the fighting when killed, and 11 were minors. Palestinians killed 2 Israeli civilians, and one member of the Israeli security forces.

On 27 Feb. 2008 Palestinian organizations fired dozens of rockets at the western Negev and the southern coastal plain of Israel. The rocket fire killed a student at Sapir College, and wounded others. According to media reports, at least one rocket landed near Barzilai Hospital, in Ashkelon.

On 14 February 2008, the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court sentenced two Border Police officers to a four months' suspended prison term and payment of NIS 20,000 compensation for assault causing actual bodily harm and for making threats. On February 2005, while serving at the Container checkpoint, in the Bethlehem area, the two men assaulted taxi driver 'Imad Shalaldah.

On 14 February 2008, Fawaziyeh a-Dark suffered a heart attack. Soldiers at a flying checkpoint prevented the passage of the ambulance summoned for her. When her husband tried to take her by taxi, soldiers at another checkpoint blocked their passage. He was forced to take her home, by which time she died.

In 1967 Israel annexed the village of Nu'man to its territory without recognizing the residents. Today Israel imposes harsh restrcitions preventing them from living a normal life.

Since February 5, Israel has imposed severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinians in the northern West Bank (Jenin, Nablus and Tulkarm districts) and prevents all Palestinian men between the ages of 16-35 from leaving this area without special permits, which are rarely granted.

In late 2007, Israel closed two crossings that Palestinians used to enter Israel from the southern West Bank. Since then, thousands of Palestinians working in Israel have had to spend half the night in long lines at the three crossings that remain open.

B'Tselem decries the High Court's decision allowing reduction in the supply of electricity and fuel to the Gaza Strip.

On 4 Jan. 08, Border Police fired rubber-coated metal bullets at Ahmad Abu Hantash, a father of two. Hantash died on 23 Jan. B'Tselem's investigation indicates that the police officers' lives were not in danger. B'Tselem demands a thorough investigation of the incident.

B'Tselem strongly condemns the attack in Dimona by Palestinian militants, in which one Israeli civilian was killed. Attacks aimed at civilians are immoral, inhuman, and illegal.

On 17 January 2008, three Palestinian high-school students from Beit Iksa went to the nearby Ramot neighborhood looking for work. According to the testimony of two of them, police appeared, assaulted them, and then arrested them and took them to the police station.

The restrictions placed on Issa Amro, B'Tselem's fieldworker in Hebron, were cancelled yesterday [23 January]. On Saturday, soldiers assaulted and arrested Amro while he was filming settlers' disturbances in the Wadi Hasin neighborhood, in the eastern part of Hebron.

Although the toppling of the fence at the Egyptian border temporarily eased the stranglehold, the million and a half residents of Gaza still depend almost entirely on importation of goods, fuel, and electricity through crossings controlled by Israel. The Siege on Gaza is illegal, improper, and immoral.

A bill passed preliminary reading in the Knesset, empowering the Minister of Public Security to prohibit relatives and humanitarian workers from visiting security prisoners if they belong to organizations that hold an Israeli citizen captive without permitting visits by state representatives, humanitarian workers or relatives.

The Palestinian Electric Company has had to shut down Gaza's power station after it ran out of industrial diesel. Last week, Israel's stopped all fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip.

Soldiers assaulted and arrested Issa 'Amro, a B'Tselem fieldworker, in Hebron on Saturday, 19 Jan. 2008. 'Amro was arrested while filming a disturbance by settlers in the Wadi Hsein neighborhood in East Hebron.

Attacks aimed at civilians undermine all rules of morality and law. Specifically, the intentional killing of civilians is considered a "grave breach" of international humanitarian law and a war crime. Whatever the circumstances, such acts are unjustifiable.

Following the cutback, which began in October, the Gaza power station had to severely cut back the supply of electricity, impairing electricity supply to residents and vital facilities.

In the Cabinet meeting, the Head of the ISA said that Israel has killed 1,000 terrorists in the Gaza Strip in the past two years. The total number of Palestinians killed in this period is actually 816, and this includes 152 minors as well as many women and men uninvolved in the hostilities.

Both women are from 'Azzun 'Atmah, a village cut off from the West Bank by the Separation Barrier. In 2007, a critically wounded man from the village died in similar circumstances. The gate remains closed at night, despite the army's promise to keep it open.