Al-Haq Field Updates (8 -11 May 2021)[1]

Since 8 May 2021 Al-Haq has documented widespread and systematic attacks on the Palestinian civilian population, as Israeli Occupying Forces have escalated attacks across the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), targeting civilians, including journalists and paramedics in Jerusalem, and civilians in the Gaza Strip, Nablus, Qalqilya, Ramallah, Salfit, Jenin, Tulkarm, Jericho, Tubas, Bethlehem, and Hebron, in acts amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Between Monday 10 May 2021 and on Friday May 14 2021 at 9:30 am, the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip documented the killing of 119 Palestinians, including 19 women and 31 children and one person with disabilities, and the injury of 830 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Between 11-12 May, Al-Haq documented the killing of a further four Palestinians by the IOF, including one minor, in the West Bank.

1. Israeli Occupying Forces Attack Civilian Ramadan Worshippers in Jerusalem

As the holy month of Ramadan drew to a close in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem, the capital of Palestine, heavily militarised Israeli forces attacked civilian Palestinian worshippers, including the elderly, with wastewater, tear gas cannisters, and sound bombs. Between 7 – 12 May, 2021, the Palestine Red Crescent, recorded 923 injuries in Jerusalem, of which 45 were wounded from hits, falls, and burns, 97 from tear gas inhalation, and 781 from rubber bullets.

On 8 May 2021 at around 4:00 pm the IOF erected checkpoints at the western entrance to Jerusalem, near the town of Abu Ghosh, to prevent buses of Palestinian worshippers from Palestinian towns colonised in 1948, from arriving to pray in the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Between 10:00 pm and midnight, the IOF targeted worshipers leaving the Al-Aqsa Mosque at Bab Al-Asbat with wastewater, tear gas, and sound bombs. That evening the Palestinian Red Crescent issued a statement documenting some 90 injuries, 8 of whom were taken to hospital. Most of the injured were directly shot by rubber bullets and sound bombs.

Attacks continued the following morning, when the IOF fired sound bombs, tear gas and rubber bullets at the worshipers to empty the Al-Aqsa Mosque.  The attacks continued throughout the day until approximately 6:15 pm when the occupation forces withdrew from the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque. As the worshipers were leaving, some young men were arrested. The Palestinian Red Crescent announced that 10 worshipers were injured. One man sustained injuries from a rubber bullet to the mouth,  five suffered rubber bullet wounds to the head, and four had injuries to the hands and feet, requiring field treatment.

As the IOF stoked tensions across Jerusalem, Al-Haq documented settler attacks in Issawiya, northeast of Jerusalem on 9 May. Settlers hurled stones at Palestinian cars, under the watch and protection of the IOF. Again in Shufat on 10 May, settlers threw stones at Palestinians in concert with IOF forces who targeted Palestinians with rubber coated bullets. The Palestinian Red Crescent announced the injury of 19 people throughout the day, 5 injured were taken to hospital, including a paramedic who was wounded by rubber bullets.

On 8 May and again on 10 May, the IOF launched attacks on Palestinians gathering in Sheikh Jarrah to protest the evictions of some 500 Palestinians from 28 families and their forced displacement from Sheikh Jarrah. Between 8:30 pm and midnight on 10 May, the IOF prevented activists from entering the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, attacking them with wastewater, sound bombs, and rubber bullets. The following night at 9:30 pm, the IOF again attackedsolidarity activists in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, beating them and using cavalry teams for crowd dispersal.

On 10 May, the IOF started attacked worshippers arriving at Al-Aqsa mosque, firing tear gas, sound bombs, and rubber bullets. The IOF threw sound and gas bombs inside the Dome of the Rock Mosque and the Al-Qibli prayer hall, despite the congregation of worshipers inside. The IOF prevented ambulance crews from entering the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque and providing aid. The occupation forces arrested some worshippers as they were leaving the mosque. At about 9:00 am, the IOF forced journalists who were covering the events to leave Al-Aqsa mosque. A number of journalists were injured in the ensuing IOF attacks, including Assaid Amarna, Abu Armila Brigade, Fatima al-Bakri, and Maysa Abu Ghazaleh.

IOF attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque continued until about 12:30 pm after the withdrawal of the IOF from the mosque's courtyards.  The IOF stormed the roof of the Al-Qibli Mosque, broke the windows, and fired tear gas and sound bombs at those inside the mosque. The IOF attacks resulted in 278 injuries, including 205 who were transferred to Al-Maqasid, French, Al-Mutlaq, and Hilal field hospital, including 5 serious injuries. Dr. Samia Al-Kurd, working at Al-Maqasid Hospital, confirmed that 180 cases had arrived at Al-Maqasid Hospital, whereupon five cases were admitted to operating rooms and 18 cases to the intensive care unit.

At Bab al-Amoud, the IOF used sound bombs to disperse the people, and a unit of the occupation forces in civilian clothes arrested a young man at the steps of the Bab al-Amoud Gate. The IOF then returned to suppress the residents of the Bab al-Amoud area using stun grenades, wastewater, and a cavalry squad.

At around 8:00 pm, at Bab al-Silsah (one of the gates of the Al-Aqsa Mosque), a group of IOF climbed onto the roof of the gate and targeted youths and worshippers. After 11:30 pm, the IOF fired heavy sound bombs forcing the worshipers out through the gate. The IOF then fired sound bombs at worshippers who had collected at the side of the gate, leading to the injury of five worshippers.

2. Israeli Military Offensive on the Gaza Strip

In the Gaza Strip, Al-Haq documentation from 10-11 May highlighted a coordinated barrage of some 18 separate IOF ariel bombardments across the Gaza Strip, with unnecessary, excessive and disproportionately high civilian casualties, in addition to the targeting of residential and commercial buildings. Throughout this two-day period, Al-Haq documented the killing of 25 Palestinians including, nine children, the youngest of whom was only two years old.

At around 6:10 pm on 10 May 2021, the IOF engaged in a bombing campaign sweeping the northern Gaza Strip.  In Jabalia Al-Balad an IOF reconnaissance plane launched one missile, targeting and killing, Saber Ibrahim Mahmoud Suleiman, 38, and his son Muhammad Suleiman, 15 as they worked their agricultural lands in the Jabal Al-Kashef area, east of Izbt Abd Rabbo. They were taken to the Indonesian Hospital in Jabalia, and were found to have had fatal shrapnel wounds.

At the same time, in Al-Masryeen Street east of the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip Gaza, a missile targeted a gathering of civilians, most of them from the Al-Masry family. They had gathered on a dirt street located in front of their homes at Al-Basha House in the Al-Dahra area, where they had been collecting straw and wheat. The missile killed eight civilians, including six children, with five of the deceased from one family. Al-Haq documented 18 civilians  including a woman and 10 children who were also injured in the same incident, along with damage to three residential houses. The deceased include: 

• Ibrahim Youssef Atallah Al-Masry, 11 
• Marwan Masry 6,
• Ahmed Muhammad Atallah Al-Masry, 20
• Rahaf Masry, 10 
• Yazan Sultan Muhammad Al-Masry, 2 
• Hussein Munir Hussein Hamad, 11 
• Muhammad Ali Muhammad Naseer, 24 
• Ibrahim Abdullah Muhammad Hassanein, 16

Meanwhile in in the northern Gaza Strip at 6:10 pm, an Israeli reconnaissance plane targeted activist, Muhammad Abdullah Zaidan Fayyad, 26, while he was in the middle of the Salah neighbourhood in the Bora Beit Hanoun area. He died on the spot, and his body was transported in pieces to Beit Hanoun Governmental Hospital, in the northern Gaza Strip.

On 10 May, at 10:15 pm, an Israeli reconnaissance aircraft, launched a missile targeting a group of Palestinian resistance members while they were on open land in Al-Manara neighborhood. As a result of the bombing, 3 members of the group were wounded, including Salim Muhammad Salim Al-Farra, 38 who later died from his injuries. 

Throughout the night Israeli war planes targeted and attacked a number of military sites including, the training site of Abu Qadus and a military site at Sudania. The IOF also targeted the Quraish training site with two missiles in south west Gaza City, and bombed a "former" administration site causing damage to the site. On 11 May, at 4:00 am, in the northern Gaza Strip, Israeli warplanes targeted four lathe missiles at a factory belonging to one of the Palestinian factions located in the Abu Al-Khair industrial area near the Al-Qurum roundabout in Jabalia. This caused the complete destruction of factories and damage to five other industrial facilities.

At the same time, at Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, three Israeli missiles hit the Taiba residential building, consisting of seven stories, which is built on an area of ​​about 300 square meters, and contains 13 apartments. The attack killed Amira Abdel-Fattah Abdel-Rahman Subuh, 58 and her son Abdul-Rahman Yusef Ali Subuh, 19, a person with disabilities who had suffered from cerebral palsy since birth. Al-Haq documented additional injuries to two persons who are described as being in medium and critical condition. The bombing also caused material damage to a number of neighbouring civilian homes.

On 11 May 2021, Israeli warplanes targeted a residential apartment located on the second floor of the 14-storey Unknown Soldier Tower. The bombing caused the death of three Palestinians and moderate injury to 7 civilians in addition to material damage to a number of civilian homes and nearby shops and moderate injury to seven civilians. The three deceased were members of the Al-Quds Brigades:

• Sameh Fahim Hashem Al-Mamlouk, 34 
• Kamel Tayseer Salman Quraiqaa, 28 
• Muhammad Yahya "Muhammad Shaker" Abu Al-Atta, 36

On 11 May 2021, at 3:30 am, IOF warplanes launched two missiles bombing neighbourhood houses and factories in Tel Al-Hawa neighborhood, west of Gaza City. At 4:55 am, IOF warplanes launched two missiles bombing neighbourhood houses and factories. In addition, IOF warplanes targeted  and bombed the resistance, located in the Tel Al-Hawa neighborhood. Thirty minutes later, IOF warplanes bombed the Galilee Ice Cream Factory owned by Khalil Habib, which led to the complete destruction of the factory, at Street 10 near Kuwait Junction, southeast of Gaza City.

3. Incursions, Raids, Arrests and Demonstrations across the West Bank

Across the West Bank, in Nablus and Qalqilya the IOF unleashed widespread, unnecessary and disproportionate force against civilians assembling to protest the attacks on Al-Aqsa mosque and the bombing of the Gaza Strip. In 13 separate incidents across Nablus the IOF fired live and rubber coated metal bullets, sound bombs, and tear gas canisters at the demonstrators, causing numerous injuries due to tear gas inhalation. At Laban Huwara checkpoint in the village of Beita, after clashes erupted with the IOF, 93 Palestinians were injured from tear gas inhalation and 13 injured from rubber bullets,.

On 11 May 2021, at Hawara checkpoint, south of Nablus, Muhammad Ali Abdel Qader Amer, 18, from the village of Kafr Qalil, was wounded with a live bullet in the right leg by the Israeli occupation forces. At 6:30 pm the same evening, Mustafa Asim Abd Al-Fattah Mansour, 13 years old, was wounded after he was run over by a military jeep, at the entrance to Azzun town, east of Qalqilya.

On 11 May 2021, at 6:39 pm, the IOF shot two Palestinian men near Za'tara checkpoint. The two men were residents of al-Luban al-Sharqiya, and were on the staff of the PA’s General Intelligence. According to eyewitnesses, around 15 occupation soldiers sprayed bullets on a Palestinian car that was passing through the checkpoint, killing Ahmed Abdel Fattah Daraghmeh, 38.

The same day, in Sinjil, north of Ramallah, dozens of settlers, under the protection of the IOF, attacked, a number of Palestinian homes belonging to the Khalil, Asfour, and Ghafri, families located near the bypass road. The IOF fired sound bombs and tear gas at the Palestinians, causing a number of them to suffocate from tear gas inhalation.

Al-Haq documented four IOF incidents in Tubas and Jericho, where the IOF targeted protestors with tear gas and sound bombs. At 5:30 am in Tubas, on 12 May 2012, IOF soldiers ran over two young men  - Suleiman Mahmoud Suleiman Faqha and Hatem Ahmed Abdullah Faqha with military jeeps. The two injured have been transferred to Tubas Turkish Governmental Hospital, with one in a critical condition and admitted to intensive care.

On 12 May 2021, at 5:30 am, Israeli military jeeps stormed the town of Aqaba, where IOF soldiers shot directly at and killed Rashid Muhammad Rashid Abu Ara, 16 without any confrontations. Later, the IOF raided and arrested Sheikh Mustafa Muhammad Saeed Abu Ara, 60, near the scene of the killing.

In Jenin and Tulkarm the IOF conducted a series of house raids, carried out night arrests, and also targeted and attacked protestors. In the village of Zbuba, located near Salem camp, west of Jenin, some Palestinian  boys were suffocated as a result of tear gas inhalation, which the soldiers fired towards the boys and men.  On 11 May at 10:30 pm, IOF soldiers clashed with Palestinians near one of the openings created in the Annexation Wall at the western side of the village of Zita, north of Tulkarm. Four young men were injured by live bullets in the lower extremities of their bodies. The wounded were transferred to the Tulkarm Governmental Hospital and later described as "stable".

In Bethlehem, the IOF targeted Palestinians in six separate clashes over a two-day period, firing tear gas cannisters and rubber bullets. On 11 May, in Bab Zuqaq, Bethlehem, five youths suffered from tear gas inhalation, and were treated on the ground. At the same time in Husan, west of Bethlehem,  after IOF soldiers fired tear gas canisters, two men were wounded and were treated in the field. The following day on 12 May, three young men in the Al-Qadam area, were wounded and transported to Beit Jala Governmental Hospital to receive treatment, following an eruption of clashes in the area between the occupation soldiers who fired bullets at youths who had been throwing stones.

IOF house raids and attacks on demonstrators continued in Hebron. On 12 May 2021, the IOF entered Al-Fawwar camp from the south side "Al-Hadab" and from the eastern side “Al-Rihiya”.  Young  men from the camp threw stones. The IOF responded firing various types of ammunition, shooting and wounding two, and killing Hassan Attia Al-Titi, 26 after shooting him in the chest with a bullet. His body was transferred to the Hebron Governmental Hospital. He was a member of the National Security Forces.

Conclusion

As the Occupying Power, Israel is obliged to ensure public order and civil life in the occupied territory.[2] Instead, it directs and implements repeated and sustained racist violence against all Palestinians. Israel is obliged to respect, protect, and fulfil Palestinian human rights under international law. Instead, its policies and practices, over decades, and now accelerating in scope and scale, are subjecting Palestinians to brutality and dispossession. Across Palestine, Israeli forces are engaged in blatant and repeated violations of the basic right to life of Palestinians.

Israel’s unnecessary, disproportionate, and excessive use of force in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron, Tulkarm, Tubas, Jericho and Ramallah, and the use by the IOF of live fire, rubber coated metal bullets, sound bombs and tear gas to disperse, target and attack unarmed civilian worshippers and protestors demonstrates that Israel has acted in breach of basic principles of law, and is committing acts amounting to grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, by wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, acts which are prosecutable as war crimes.[3]

Israel’s campaign of bombardment of the Gaza Strip, targeting and killing Palestinian civilian agricultural works, and families, in addition to the targeting of civilian infrastructure violates and disregards basic IHL rules on the principle of distinction.[4] The bombardment of residential areas, killing 119 and causing injury to 830 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, is indicative of unlawful and excessive methods of warfare. Unlawful indiscriminate attacks include “an attack which is expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects…which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated”.[5] The attack on the seven story Taiba residential building, causing two civilian deaths, can be considered indiscriminate and a violation of international humanitarian law. 

Al-Haq calls on the international community to intervene immediately to bring to an end Israel’s widespread and systematic attacks on the civilian Palestinian population and inhumane acts of apartheid, including the quashing of Palestinian freedom of assembly, and military acts of aggression in the Gaza Strip, in violation of the Charter of the United Nations. It is time for the international community to address the root causes of occupation and apartheid, to work collectively to end Israeli impunity for international crimes, and to work to ensure the realisation by the Palestinian people as a whole of their collective right of self-determination, including the right of return of Palestinian refugees and exiles to their homeland. It is time to end the blockade, end the occupation, and to restore the full rights of the Palestinian people as a whole.