On the Agenda

Throughout May 2022, on orders of the Jerusalem Municipality and the Civil Administration, 29 structures were demolished in the parts of the West Bank annexed to Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries and in adjacent areas lying within the al-Quds District of the Palestinian Authority. The demolished structures included 20 homes, six of which were demolished by their owners. Twelve were inhabited, and their demolition left 59 people, including 30 minors, homeless. Eight additional homes were under construction and slated to house a family of seven, including one minor, and for the future residence of five newly-wed young men. A part of another demolished house under construction was slated to house a young couple...

On Friday, 13 May 2022, at around 6:00 A.M., Israeli troops, including Special Police Unit forces, entered the al-Hadaf neighborhood in Jenin. They stopped by the home of the extended Mer'eb family, blew up the door of Muhammad and Manal Mer'eb’s apartment on the first floor, and called for the couple’s son Mahmoud (20) to come out. The parents came out with three of their children – ‘Ahd (16), Fares (9) and 'Abd a-Rahman (4). Mahmoud stayed in the apartment. Two of Muhammad's brothers, their mother Khairiyah (64), and their wives and children – 12 people in total – stayed in their apartments on the top floor....

On Monday, 23 May 2022, at around 4:00 A.M., Mu’taz Jaber (20) and Mahmoud Jaber (23) were on their way home. When they reached a military checkpoint near their homes in the Jaber neighborhood, two soldiers detained them. They beat the two men, frisked them and bound their hands. After about half an hour, the soldiers untied their hands but ordered them to stay put. While the two were being held at the checkpoint, Mu’taz’s cousin, ‘Alaa Abu ‘Odeh (26), passed by on his way to work...

On Saturday afternoon, 14 May 2022, three masked settlers entered a plot that belongs to Riyad Jbarah (48) and Muhammad Rabi' (45) and lies about five kilometers east of the village of Turmusaya, in Ramallah District. The settlers damaged part of the fence surrounding the plot and uprooted and broke about 190 of the 200 or so olive seedlings there. Rabi' saw the settlers on his security cameras, but as he feared they were armed or escorted by soldiers, he did not go there and was forced to watch from afar as they destroyed his olive grove...

Suzan (21), Saja (15) and Sama Khatab (10) are three sisters from Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, who have all been diagnosed with conditions that cause irreversible kidney damage. As the healthcare system in Gaza cannot provide the treatment they need, the sisters have to travel to hospitals in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) to receive it. The family submitted several requests for permits so Saja and Suzan could travel to receive the necessary treatment, but Israel refused to allow their mother to leave the Gaza Strip to go with them, and their condition precludes traveling alone...

The Supreme Court has ruled Israel can expel some 1,000 Palestinians who live in an area declared a firing zone in the South Hebron Hills. In a judgment filled with lies and errors, the court ignored Israel’s longstanding aim to bring the area under Jewish control, dismissed international law as irrelevant, and ruled the residents had “invaded” the area to “establish facts on the ground” as it is not their real home. In doing so, the justices permitted the state to commit a war crime for which they, too, will bear liability if it is committed.

On Friday, 1 April 2022, at around 1:30 P.M., a procession left the village of Bil'in, west of Ramallah, to mark Land Day, which took place two days earlier. The 150 or so participants, Palestinians and Israeli and international activists, marched about a kilometer and stopped around 100 meters from the Separation Barrier. The protesters waved flags and chanted slogans against the occupation. At least three soldiers were standing on the other side of the barrier, on an elevated, armored military post up against the fence...

Yazan and Muhammad a-Rajbi were arrested in Aug. 2021 and accused of participating in clashes in Silwan in July 2021. For 42 days, they were interrogated under torture, including painful, prolonged restraining, food, water, sleep, and toilet access deprivation, and confinement to a small cell. They were also placed in cells with collaborators who tried to extract confessions.. This torture and abuse are systematically practiced by Israel through ISA interrogators, the IPS and the justice system, which gives interrogators immunity.

On Monday, 28 March 2022, at around 7:00 P.M., a group of about eight Palestinian teens from the village of Ras Karkar, in Ramallah District, used lasers to provoke soldiers and Special Police Unit officers who were at the entrance to the village. The teens fled into the village and the forces chased them in a vehicle, capturing Ragheb Samhan (13), who has an intellectual disability. They assaulted him, tied his hands with pieces of cloth, blindfolded him and took him away on his own, without informing anyone. After about two hours, the officers brought Ragheb back to the entrance to the village and released him there, handcuffed and blindfolded...

For 11 days, Israel relentlessly bombarded the Gaza Strip, one of the most crowded places on earth, killing 232 Palestinians. Almost a quarter of those killed were minors, and more than half were not taking part in the hostilities. Many were killed at home, with nowhere to run or hide. Thousands were injured and thousands lost everything they owned. A year on, B'Tselem's field researchers in Gaza talked to people who lost their loved ones and homes. These are their testimonies:  

After more than 20 years of legal proceedings, Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled yesterday (that the forcible transfer of hundreds of Palestinians from their homes and the destruction of their communities – for the clear purpose of taking over their lands in the service of Jewish interests – is legal. The international community must prevent Israel from forcibly transferring the Masafer Yatta communities and make sure, should this crime be committed, that those responsible for it will be held accountable.

B'Tselem's investigation indicates that on 15 March 2022, a Border Police officer shot two 16-year-olds who were fleeing from military vehicles in Nablus, hitting Nader Rayan from behind. Five policemen ran towards the wounded teen and shot him again, fatally. The Border Police claimed that Rayan had aimed a gun at the officers, yet the weapon was not found. This claim cannot justify the shooting and certainly not the "confirmation of killing", which clearly demonstrates Israel's wanton open-fire policy in the Occupied Territories.