The Israeli Forces Launch a Military Operation in the West Bank, Murdering and Wounding 111 People
September 3, 2024
The Gaza Strip and the West Bank witnessed a major Israeli escalation, as noted in the Media Observatory of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Israeli Crimes against the Palestinians noted in its weekly report from August 27 to September 2, 2024. The report indicates that 388 people were murdered, and 757 were injured in 19 massacres concentrated in Deir al-Balah, al-Zeitoun neighborhood, al-Qastal neighborhood, and al-Maghazi camp. The number of murdered since October 7, 2023 has reached 41,081.
The Israeli military machine intensified its bombing operations, which mainly targeted areas and shelters for the displaced persons in the Gaza Strip. It bombed a school housing displaced people in Deir al-Balah, the Baptist Hospital in Gaza City, Safad School in the Zeitoun neighborhood, and a factory housing displaced people in Khan Yunis, in addition to areas in the Bureij camp. Additionally, journalist Mohammed Abd Rabbo was murdered in Deir al-Balah as a result of an Israeli raid, bringing the number of journalists murdered by the fire of the occupation forces to 172. The Israeli forces forced Palestinian families and civilians, numbering 250,000 to leave Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip as part of large displacement campaigns, while 25 shelters went out of service after Israel expanded the Netzarim corridor that splits the Gaza Strip into two. Residents of three neighborhoods in Deir al-Balah were shocked to find their homes completely destroyed after the occupation forces allowed them to return.
On the other hand, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) called for a humanitarian truce to facilitate a polio vaccination campaign in Gaza, while 160,000 children received vaccines amid very poor conditions.
On another level, the cities and towns of the West Bank witnessed an unprecedented Israeli escalation since October 7, 2023. An Israeli military campaign has begun concentrating in the Palestinian camps, during which 36 Palestinians were murdered and 75 others were injured.
The occupation forces bombed homes and vehicles in the Nour Shams camp in Tulkarm, the village of Seir in Jenin, the Far’a camp, and Tubas. They also bulldozed and demolished streets and infrastructure in addition to 37 homes and facilities.
Over the past week, Israel demolished three homes in Al-Quds, four in Jenin, one in Jericho, and one in Tulkarm in addition to burning four homes in Tulkarm. The occupation forces destroyed a car wash and a car showroom in Wadi al-Joz in Al-Quds, a building materials store in the village of Husan in Bethlehem, car repair shops in the Nour Shams camp in Tulkarm and barns in Jericho, Hebron, and Tubas.
The Israeli forces also confiscated a cement pump, a private vehicle, an excavator, and a truck in the villages of Hebron, and bulldozed agricultural lands in Kharbatha al-Misbah in Ramallah.The West Bank and Al-Quds witnessed seven settlement activities, as settlers established a settlement outpost in the Khan al-Ahmar area in Al-Quds, and the occupation forces paved roads on Palestinian lands in the Khallet Thabet area in Bethlehem for settlement purposes. Settlers set up a tent on a plot of land east of Burin village, in preparation for its seizure. Settlers also seized an area estimated at 150 dunums of agricultural land owned by Palestinians in the Khirbet al-Farisiya area in the northern Jordan Valley. Settlers near the “Karmei Tsur” settlement north of the town of Halhul in Hebron seized an area of citizens’ land and prevented its owners from accessing it. In addition, the settlers east of the town of Beit Furik in Nablus expelled Palestinians in an attempt to seize their land. The settlers also bulldozed an area of Palestinian land in the Khirbet al-Qat area located adjacent to the “Karmei Tsur” settlement in Hebron, where settlers carried out 54 raids during the past seven days. These crimes ranged from killing and wounding Palestinians, demolishing mobile homes and water tanks, and stealing 550 heads of sheep in the town of Sa’ir in Hebron and the town of Aqraba in Nablus, in addition to dismantling and burning of six pens in the village of Bani Na’im in Hebron, uprooting olive trees and vegetable seedlings, and destroying an irrigation network in the town of Nahalin in Bethlehem. The settlers also grazed their livestock on Palestinian agricultural lands, with the intention of destroying them. The number of Israeli crimes at various levels during the period documented by the OIC’s Observatory amounts to 2,143 crimes and violations across the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and Al-Quds.