RAMALLAH, April 24, 2010 (WAFA)- UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in its weekly Protection of civilians report, that ten Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces and one Palestinian killed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip between April 14-22, 2010.
Israeli forces injured six Palestinians, including three children. Since the beginning of the year, five Palestinians were killed and 538 Palestinians and 70 members of Israeli forces were injured in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Demonstrations were held in protest of Barrier construction (Beit Jala, Bethlehem governorate), restrictions on access to land near Israeli settlements (Beit Ummar, Hebron governorate), expansion of Hallamish settlement (Ramallah governorate) and to mark Palestinian Prisoner’s Day (Hebron, Ramallah, Jerusalem and Jericho governorates). Four Palestinians were injured during the course of these demonstrations, as well as two international activists and one Israeli soldier. The remaining two Palestinians sustained injuries during search operations.
Israeli forces conducted 100 search operations inside Palestinian towns and villages. In one of the operations in the Silwan area of East Jerusalem, Israeli forces searched several houses and a mosque and arrested three Palestinians, reportedly, for throwing stones. The arrest triggered clashes between the Palestinian residents and Israeli forces, during which stones and tear gas canisters were thrown. According to the residents, Israeli forces also fired rubber‐coated metal bullets and live ammunition. Two Israeli policemen were injured and several cases of tear gas inhalation were reported.
There were six Israeli settler‐related incidents affecting Palestinians that resulted in property damage, along with several other incidents of intimidation, access prevention and trespass. There were an additional eight incidents resulting in property damage that affected Israeli settlers, according to the Israeli military. None of this week’s incidents resulted in injuries.
Sporadic incidents along the Gaza‐Israel border resulted in the death of a Palestinian militant and the injury of four Palestinian civilians. Since the beginning of 2010, 16 Palestinians (including five civilians), three Israeli soldiers and one foreign worker have been killed and another 67 Palestinians (including 55 civilians), and four Israeli soldiers have been injured in the context of the Palestinian‐ Israeli conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel.
On 16 April, Israeli forces shot and killed one Palestinian militant, reportedly after they spotted a group of armed Palestinians attempting to plant an improvised explosive device next to the border, east of Gaza City. Also near the Gaza‐Israel border, one Palestinian civilian was wounded when Israeli forces opened fire towards a group of Palestinians collecting scrap metal, north of Beit Lahiya. In another incident, injuring three Palestinian protestors. The incident occurred after the demonstrators marched towards the border fence, and reportedly, threw stones towards Israeli forces. Such demonstrations are conducted on a weekly basis against the ongoing ban on Palestinian access to the Israeli‐declared “buffer zoneʺ along the Gaza‐Israel border. Also, Israeli tanks and bulldozers launched incursions a few hundred metres inside Gaza on seven different occasions and withdrew after conducting land leveling operations.
Palestinian armed factions fired a limited number of rudimentary rockets towards southern Israel, including military bases, resulting in no injuries or damage to property. Also in one incident, two children, aged 15, and a female passerby were slightly injured when an UXO being handled by the children exploded in Beit Lahiya, north of Gaza city.
