Critical Escalation at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Increased Pace of Settlement Activities in the West Bank
August 27, 2024
The number of Palestinians murdered by the fire of the Israeli occupation forces in the past week reached 306, 296 of whom were murdered in the Gaza Strip, and 10 in the West Bank. Since October 7, 2023, the total number of Palestinians murdered has reached 41081.
According to statistics from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Media Observatory for the Israeli Crimes against the Palestinians for the period between 20-26 August 2024, 922 Palestinians were wounded in Gaza and the West Bank, while 129 Palestinians were detained in the West Bank and al-Quds.
On the other hand, 60 media and human rights organizations, including Reporters without Borders, have urged the European Union to suspend its cooperation agreement with Israel and impose sanctions on it, due to its continued murdering of journalists in the Gaza Strip.
With regard to developments in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, the mosque has been subjected to almost daily raids, at a time when Israel has announced its intention to make these raids regular. The official Israeli Broadcasting Authority revealed that the Israeli government will finance the Jewish settlers’ raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque with 545,000 US dollars, amidst ongoing condemnation of the extremist Israeli Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who has threatened to build a Jewish synagogue in the courtyards of the mosque.
With regard to the demolitions of homes and facilities in the West Bank and al-Quds, the Israeli occupation forces demolished 10 homes in Wadi al-Joz and the town of Anata in al-Quds, in Bethlehem, Tulkarm camp, and the village of Khirbat al-Misbah in Ramallah, and in Nablus. Settlers burned a house in the Birin area in Hebron. The occupation forces also demolished infrastructure and streets in Tubas, Tulkarm camp, and Balata camp in Nablus. They also removed a gymnasium club, a car repair shop, and a commercial store in the Wadi al-Joz neighborhood in al-Quds, a supermarket in Tulkarm camp, and a mall in Balata camp in Nablus, in addition to demolishing a number of barns and sheds in Ramallah. The occupation forces also confiscated two bulldozers in Hebron and Jenin, a cement mixer in Jenin, and confiscated a car and bombed another in Tulkarm. Settlers also seized a bulldozer in Beit Dajan in Nablus and an agricultural tractor in the town of Yatta in Hebron. Settlers burned and bulldozed agricultural lands in the villages of Salfit, Bethlehem, and Hebron. They attacked Palestinian vehicles and smashed their windows in the Old City of Hebron, the town of Beit Kahil, the village of Susya near the city itself, and the village of Rojeib in Nablus. They also stole water from the village of Al-Auja in Jericho by diverting the course of the village spring.
Over the past week, settlers raided Palestinian villages 39 times. There were six settlement activities in the West Bank, represented by settlers placing a fence around the land in Wadi Al-Maleh in the northern Jordan Valley with the intention of seizing it, while the occupation forces bulldozed agricultural lands near a settlement outpost north of the village of Deir Istiya. Settlers set up settlement tents in the village of Al-Minya in Bethlehem in an attempt to seize Palestinian lands. Others tried to build a settlement outpost in Beit Furik in Nablus, and settlers set up tents near Mount Qarnatal in Jericho in an attempt to build a settlement outpost as well. The occupation forces also bulldozed land with the aim of paving and expanding a dirt settlement road in the area. Finally, the number of crimes and violations committed by the occupation forces and settlers during the mentioned period amounted to 1936.