Israel Continues to Bomb Gaza and Demolish Buildings Despite the Ceasefire
A tree whose branches were cut by settlers in villages near Ramallah. (Anadolu)
Ramallah, February 24, 2026
Israeli occupation forces killed and injured 54 Palestinians between February 17 and 23, 2026. The OIC Media Observatory on Israeli Crimes against Palestinians documented nine Palestinians murdered, including five in the Gaza Strip and four in the West Bank, in addition to 17 injuries in the Gaza Strip and 28 in the West Bank.
The OIC Observatory also recorded a total of 72,989 Palestinians killed between October 7, 2023, and February 23, 2026, along with 181,257 injuries during the same period.
The OIC Media Observatory also recorded 335 incursions by Israeli occupation forces into various cities and villages in the West Bank over a seven-day period, resulting in 202 Palestinians being detained. It further documented 91 attacks by settlers against Palestinians in Palestinian cities and villages, in addition to 11 settlement activities and other crimes, totaling 902 offenses across the Palestinian territories in a single week.
This series of weekly crimes coincided with the United Nations expressing its concern over Israel, the occupying power, carrying out a campaign of ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. This also coincided with the occupation’s decision to classify lands in the occupied West Bank as state lands, and to open the door for Israelis to register ownership of Palestinian lands in the West Bank for the first time since 1967. The crimes also included the confiscation of 0.286 dunams of lands in the town of Beit Hanina in Al-Quds (Jerusalem), and the archaeological site and its surroundings in the town of Sebastia, which has an area of about 20,000 square meters, and areas of lands in the villages of Bethlehem, with the aim of paving a settlement road, as well as the displacement of 15 Bedouin families in the northern Jordan Valley in Tubas, due to repeated attacks by settlers that take place under the protection of the Israeli occupation forces.
In continuation of its crimes, the occupation forces bombed the Bani Suheila area in Khan Yunis, the Shuja’iyya and Zeitoun neighborhoods, and areas east, north, and south of the Gaza Strip, while continuing to demolish Palestinian homes in the Gaza Strip, especially east of the Bureij camp.
Last week, a study published in the medical journal “The Lancet Global Health” showed that more than 75,000 Palestinians were killed during the first 15 months of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, a much higher number and up to double what was announced at the time, which was only 49,000.
In the West Bank, the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound was subjected to eight daily violations, reflecting an increase with the arrival of the holy month of Ramadan. Israeli occupation forces erected checkpoints at the entrances to Al-Quds (Jerusalem’s) Old City and the gates of Al-Aqsa to prevent worshippers from performing the first Friday prayer of Ramadan. They arrested two Palestinians in the Al-Aqsa courtyards and banned seven others from the mosque for periods ranging from one week to six months. They also closed the Burj al-Luqluq Association in Al-Quds (Jerusalem) for six months, aiming to undermine the Palestinian Authority’s sovereignty in the city. Settlers set fire to the entrance of the Abu Bakr al-Siddiq Mosque in Nablus and scrawled anti-Arab Hebrew slogans on its walls.
Regarding attacks on children, a child was killed by an explosion of unexploded ordnance left behind by the Israeli Occupation army in Jericho. Israeli forces killed a child in Nablus, arrested 10 children, and wounded two others. Settlers also wounded a third child.
Israeli forces demolished 24 homes, an auto parts shop, a farm, and destroyed a coffee kiosk and agricultural structures, confiscating their contents. They uprooted dozens of olive trees along the separation wall in Hebron, rammed and damaged a car, bulldozed land, issued a demolition order for a villa in Bethlehem, evacuated four homes and converted them into military outposts, and confiscated gold jewelry and 213,000 shekels from two Palestinians.
During the past week, the OIC Media Observatory documented attacks targeting medical personnel. Israeli occupation forces detained a Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance at the entrance to Masafer Yatta, which was transporting a wounded Palestinian man who had been assaulted by settlers. They also stormed Al-Makassed Hospital in Jerusalem and arrested a Palestinian man inside.
Regarding settler attacks, groups of settlers released livestock in 21 areas across various West Bank governorates, cut olive tree branches in several villages, stole dozens of head of cattle, a horse, and water pipes, damaged two vehicles, burned tents, and sprayed herbicides on crops. They also burned eight mobile homes and an agricultural storage room in the Bedouin community between Deir Dibwan and Rammun.
Regarding settlement activities, settlers bulldozed land in Tubas, several plots in the town of Qusra near Nablus, near Palestinian homes in the same town, near the town of Bruqin in Salfit, and near the village of Asira al-Qibliya near Nablus, with the aim of widening the road leading to the new settlement outpost. They also fenced off agricultural land in the town of Ni’lin. Occupation forces bulldozed agricultural land between the villages of Iskaka and al-Lubban al-Sharqiya to construct a settlement road. Settlers diverted water from a spring into a collection pond next to the al-Auja spring in Jericho, and seized two buildings containing several apartments in Hebron, raising the Israeli flag above them.