Israeli Occupation Forces Demolish 50 Commercial Establishments and Bulldoze Vast Areas of Agricultural Land
Photo from Anadolu Agency.
Ramallah, May 12, 2026
The OIC Media Observatory on Israeli Crimes Against Palestinians recorded more brutal crimes this week compared to previous weeks, totaling 1,168 crimes. These figures cannot fully capture the magnitude of the situation in the various Palestinian territories. Between May 5 and 11, 2026, Israeli occupation forces killed 19 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and injured 91 others. Civil defence teams recovered six bodies. The killings of 103 Palestinians have been confirmed, bringing the total number of Palestinians killed since October 7, 2023, to 73,899, with 183,239 injured. The bombardment targeted the northern, central, and southern parts of the Gaza Strip, including the Maghazi, Shati, and Jabalia refugee camps, as well as the towns of Beit Lahia and Khan Younis, the Al-Mawasi area, and Gaza City. Israeli occupation forces also arrested six fishermen at sea off the coast of the Gaza Strip.
According to the OIC Observatory, Israeli occupation forces raided various areas of the West Bank 337 times in a single week, escalating their crimes to an unprecedented degree. Meanwhile, settlers were given free rein to commit whatever crimes they pleased, targeting everyone, even the dead. The OIC Observatory documented an incident in which settlers prevented the burial of a child in a cemetery in Bethlehem. In another incident, they attempted to exhume a grave in the cemetery of the village of Asasa in Jenin, forcing the family to remove the body and rebury it elsewhere, claiming the cemetery was too close to the settlement of Tarsala.
Regarding attacks on places of worship, the Israeli occupation authorities banned an employee of the Islamic Waqf Department from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound for six months and arrested a Palestinian man in the Al-Aqsa courtyard.
During the reporting period, Israeli occupation forces injured 12 Palestinians, arrested 164 others, and demolished eight homes, an animal farm, and a commercial building. They also issued demolition orders to the owners of 45 commercial establishments in the town of Al-Eizariya in Al-Quds (Jerusalem), and demolished a car wash, a car showroom, two livestock pens, greenhouses covering tens of thousands of square metres, two wells, and two agricultural irrigation networks. The occupation forces confiscated a bulldozer, a vehicle, 20,000 Jordanian dinars, and 7,000 square metres of land in areas adjacent to Jenin refugee camp. They also bulldozed a road in the village of Rafat in Al-Quds (Jerusalem), as well as large tracts of land in six different areas, uprooting olive trees. In addition, they bulldozed 11,000 square meters of land in the village of Silat al-Harithiya, uprooting olive and almond trees. Furthermore, they bulldozed 200,000 square metres of land east of Hebron, uprooting thousands of trees, grapevines, and vegetable crops. The occupation forces wounded 3 children, arrested 10, and settlers assaulted two children. The occupation forces stormed the Al-Rum School in the town of Al-Taybeh. An armed settler chased students in the courtyard of the Sila Al-Dahr Basic School for Boys with his car. Armed settlers frequented the girls’ school in the town of Beit Anan with their vehicle, and others were present near the girls’ school in the village of Mikhmas.
The OIC Observatory revealed a qualitative shift in settler crimes, which during the same period amounted to 135 attacks. Among these, they demolished 50 stone and metal houses and livestock pens belonging to the Arab al-Khouli community in Qalqilya after displacing its residents. They also stormed the vicinity of the al-Balqa Bedouin community in Jericho, assaulting residents according to a strategy that results in the displacement of Bedouin communities. Furthermore, they attacked a Bedouin community of Arab al-Ka’abneh in Jericho, seizing property, money, and gold jewellery. Settlers released livestock 25 times in residential, agricultural, and grazing areas across seven Palestinian governorates. They cut down and uprooted trees and pruned branches from others in five different locations in Nablus and Hebron. They uprooted olive saplings from land near the town of Yatta in Hebron, bulldozed land near the town of Bruqin and in the town of Beit Furik, and set fire to a vehicle, two agricultural rooms, and a house. They also smashed the windows of vehicles and homes in Masafer Yatta, damaged an irrigation network, and stole a tractor, 80 sheep, electrical cables, blacksmithing equipment, and copper pieces.
Settlers also extended water and electricity lines from those supplying the village of Madama and cut off electricity to the Jabal al-Arma area in Nablus. The West Bank witnessed 14 settlement activities, during which settlers placed a mobile home north of Deir al-Hatab village, erected a tent and a livestock pen in Tayasir village in Tubas, established an outpost near Bruqin town, erected a tent and a mobile home between Tell and Madama villages, a tent in Masafer Yatta town, erected two mobile homes on land belonging to Islamic endowments in Deir Istiya town in Salfit, and extended a water pipe from the “Revava” settlement. Settlers seized an abandoned house and the Sharabati garage in Hebron’s Old City, erected a tent, and raised the Israeli flag. They also constructed a road between the villages of Al-Mughayyir and Khirbet Abu Falah near Ramallah to connect settlement outposts, and another settlement road near the town of Beit Awwa. Israeli forces also paved a settlement road in the village of Beit Ummar near Nablus and another west of Jenin, and bulldozed land near the Migdalim settlement close to the town of Qusra near Nablus. Settlers also erected a barbed wire fence around land east of the town of Deir Ballut in Salfit, with the intention of seizing it.