7 people have been killed in the past five days in the Hebron province and in East Jerusalem. With the ending of the Aid celebration, the climate in the West Bank seems to raise up to level it reached last year in the same period. Since October 2015, 227 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli occupation forces.
Tension are rising in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as in the past 5 days 9 people have been shot, 7 of which have been killed. The escalation of the tension throughout the West Bank has started at the beginning of September, with repeated clashes between Palestinians and the IDF forces. On the 10th of this month, an Israeli settler drove over a 6 years old girl with his car. In the district of Nablus villages’ roads have been closed for 7 days consecutively, whilst confrontations arose in various places and ended with many injuries by life ammunition and rubber bullets.
Last week, during a raid in Beit Ula refugee Camp in the Hebron province, a man has been shot and died from the wounds later on during the night. Friday two people in Hebron and one in Jerusalem have been shot dead. The first killing happened in the proximity of the Jewish settlement of Kyriat Arba, Hebron, when the IDF immediately shot live fire, killing the driver on the spot and leaving his fiancée who was sitting next to him severely injured. Israeli propaganda claimed that the vehicle with the couple attempted to drive into a settler bus stop. The same day in Tel Rumeida, a neighbourhood in Hebron, the Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian child who allegedly attempted to stab a soldier. Meanwhile in Jerusalem, a man with a Jordanian ID was shot dead in Jerusalem, Damascus gate, after an alleged stabbing attack.
This Monday two Palestinian minors were shot dead in front of the Ibrahimi Mosque after an alleged stabbing attack against a soldier, the children were respectively 16 and 17 years old a spokesperson from the local organisation Youth Against Settlements said. Tuesday morning another Palestinian kid was shot dead at a checkpoint near the village of Bani Naim, in the Hebron district. The IDF said the child had a knife and wanted to stab an Israeli soldier. As a result, the roads around Bani Naim are currently closed for Palestinians between the age of 15 and 30.
The last incident happened this morning in Jerusalem where a 13 years old girl was shot and wounded. The IDF claims they shot because the girl who was repeatedly asked to stop, didn’t follow the orders. The girl was unarmed. In Hebron a man was shot and killed in front of the Ibrahimi Mosque.
Meanwhile, the IDF conducted raids all over the West Bank detaining overnight at least 41 Palestinians. Particularly, in the village of Bi’lin the houses of local activists were searched all night.
In the past year 240 Palestinians have been shot dead and thousands injured and 20 Israelis (HRW, 17th July 2016) have been killed. During the entire year Israel has tightened its grip on Palestinian lives and territory, increasing checkpoints and sharpening the levels of violence and repression against Palestinians. The rising levels of repression go hand in hand with the increased number of house demolitions, arrests and intensification of settlements policies across the West Bank.
