B'Tselem demands that Israel immediately open an independent, non-military investigation into the circumstances of the military takeover of the ships, during which dozens of activists were killed or injured.
On 21 April '10, Israel deported Ahmad Sabah from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip after he completed a 9-year prison sentence. His wife and 9-year-old son did not get to see him. Sabah, who has no family in Gaza, awaits permission to return to his family.
The army has classified the area along Gaza's border with Israel a no-go zone, where anybody entering may be shot. This policy endangers the many farmers who work land there and harms the livelihood of tens of thousands of persons. It has already resulted in the killing and injury of persons who entered the zone, although they endangered nobody.
Following Yesh Din and B'Tselem's complaint, an indictment for negligent manslaughter was filed on 25 May ‘10 against the border police officer who shot 10 year old Ahmed Musa in the West Bank village of Ni'lin in July 2008.
B'Tselem strongly condemns the execution on Tuesday, 18 May, of three Palestinians convicted of serious criminal offences, including murder and rape, by the Hamas government in Gaza. The death penalty is immoral and violates the basic right to life of every human being. B’Tselem holds that under no circumstance must it be imposed.
Israeli and Palestinian human rights organizations issued a joint statement today calling on Israel to stop its illegal policy of deporting Palestinians from the West Bank to Gaza. The policy has escalated, as evident from an order effective April 13, defining anyone present in the West Bank without an Israeli permit as an "infiltrator".
On 25 April '10, the State Attorney's Office informed the High Court of Justice that the state is considering approval of the Derekh Ha'avot outpost, established in 2001 near the Elazar settlement in the Etzion Bloc. Residents of al-Khader claim that the outpost was established on farmland belonging to them. The state’s position sanctions looting of land and the ongoing and cumulative building violations in this outpost and in all the other settlements.
The High Court of Justice recently approved part of the Separation Barrier's route in the Jerusalem area. The route will separate Sheikh Sa’ed from its parent village, Jabel Mukaber, where its residents receive many of their services, and will result in grave infringement of the villagers' human rights.
According to the testimony of Nancy Hamdiya, on 3 March '10, soldiers came at night to her home in al-Yamun, Jenin District and took her outside with her four small children, including a 5-day-old baby, and her husband. The soldiers kept them in the bitter cold for three hours and searched their house, destroying property.
On 26 Feb. '10, during a joint protest by Palestinians and Israelis in 'Asira al-Qibliya, Nablus District, a settler fired at the demonstrators although they posed no danger to him. Soldiers who were present did nothing to stop the firing or arrest him.
A Palestinian youth, Ahmad Sliman Salem Dib, 19, died on 28 April after Israeli security forces shot him near the border fence with the Gaza Strip, while he was participating in a demonstration against Israel’s prohibition on Palestinians entering broad areas near the fence.
Yesterday Israel forcibly transferred Ahmad Sayeed Sabah to Gaza with no judicial review. Sabah has resided in the West Bank for the past 15 years and his now separated from his wife and child. The move comes after official promises not to deport anyone from the West Bank to Gaza.
Israel’s regime of apartheid and occupation is inextricably bound up in human rights violations. B’Tselem strives to end this regime, as that is the only way forward to a future in which human rights, democracy, liberty and equality are ensured to all people, both Palestinian and Israeli, living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
Since the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, Israel has acted in a coordinated and deliberate manner to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip, committing genocide against its residents. In light of Israel’s actions in Gaza, the public statements made by Israeli decision-makers, and the international community’s failure to take effective action, there is a serious risk that the Israeli regime will expand the genocide to other areas under its control—first and foremost, the West Bank.
B’Tselem calls on the Israeli public and the international community to use every tool available under international law to bring an immediate end to Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people.