RAMALLAH, January 5, 2025 (WAFA) – The Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission announced on Sunday a record rise in violations committed by Israeli occupation forces and colonists against Palestinians and their properties in 2024.
According to the Commission, a total of 16,612 violations were documented across various governorates during 2024.
At a press conference held at the Commission’s headquarters, the Head of the Commission, Minister Moayad Shaaban, said that Israeli forces were responsible for 13,641 of these violations, while colonists carried out 2,971 attacks.
Hebron Governorate reported the highest number of violations by Israeli occupation forces in 2024, with a total of 2,934 incidents. Nablus followed with 2,531 incidents, while Ramallah and Al-Bireh recorded 2,224 incidents.
Colonists’ attacks were most concentrated in Nablus Governorate, with 806 incidents, followed by Hebron with 657 and Ramallah and Al-Bireh with 532.
According to the minister, ten Palestinians were killed at the hands of colonists in 2024.
The head of the commission added that colonists established 51 new colonial outposts last year, including 36 pastoral outposts, in the governorates of Ramallah and Al-Bireh, Bethlehem, Hebron, Nablus, Jerusalem, Tubas, Jericho, Salfit and Tulkarem.
Shaaban pointed out that by the end of 2024, the number of colonists in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, reached a total of 770,420, distributed across 180 colonies and 256 colonial outposts, 138 of which are classified as pastoral and agricultural.
According to the minister, last year, the occupation authorities issued 903 demolition orders against Palestinian structures in the occupied West Bank, citing unpermitted construction as a pretext.
He said that in 2024, the occupation authorities carried out a total of 684 demolitions, destroying 903 structures in the West Bank, including Jerusalem. As a result, 4,332 people, including 2,320 children, were affected.
Regarding colonial expansion, the head of the commission stated that in the past year, the occupation authorities seized 46,597 dunums of land through a series of military orders.
The head of the commission warned that the occupation state has intensified its efforts to implement its objectives regarding Palestinian land, aiming to control all territories to secure Jewish supremacy. This strategy seeks to eliminate the possibility of a Palestinian state, as well as isolate Jerusalem and erase its Palestinian cultural and civilizational identity, he added.
Additionally, the occupation is focused on controlling key strategic areas of Palestinian geography through fragmentation and plunder, while imposing a system of barriers and closures to disrupt Palestinian daily life and livelihoods, said the minister.
T.R.
