RAMALLAH, March 17, 2025 (WAFA) - The Palestinian Government Communication Center issued today its weekly Situation Report covering the key developments over the past week across occupied Palestine.

Key Developments

ISRAEL CONTINUES TO BLOCK HUMANITARIAN AID TO GAZA FOR THE 16TH DAY

Israel has continued to close the Karam Abu Salem and Beit Hanoun crossings since 2 March, preventing humanitarian aid from entering Gaza and worsening the humanitarian situation. The Israeli decision to also cut off electricity has resulted in water shortages in the Gaza Strip, which relies on desalination plants for water production. This blockade has exacerbated the suffering of more than two million Palestinians who are entirely dependent on aid for their survival. With Gaza already suffering from a severe food shortage, the halt to goods entry has led to soaring food prices and the closure of some bakeries. Medical officials have warned of a deteriorating health sector due to shortages of medical supplies and fuel, threatening patients' lives.

ISRAEL CONTINUED AGGRESSION AGAINST JENIN FOR THE 56TH DAY

The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) continue their aggression on Jenin city and its refugee camp for the 56th consecutive day. Jenin Municipality said the number of displaced people from the Jenin refugee camp has risen to 21,000. The municipality stated that 25% of Jenin's population is currently displaced. The extent of the damage caused by the aggression on Jenin is enormous, particularly economically, and poverty rates have also increased. The IOF has razed 100% of the Jenin refugee camp and 85% of the city's streets. Nearly 8,000 commercial establishments had to close. As a result of Israel's aggression, the Ministry of Education said that since the beginning of the second semester in early February, in-person education has been suspended in 72 schools in Jenin and Tulkarem cities, depriving 26,000 students of their education. The ongoing occupation aggression on Jenin since 21 January has resulted in the martyrdom of 34 citizens and the injury of dozens of others.

ISRAEL CONTINUED AGGRESSION AGAINST TULKAREM FOR THE 50TH DAY

The IOF's aggression against the city of Tulkarm and its refugee camp continues for the 50th consecutive day and the 37th day at Nour Shams refugee camp, amid intensive raids and forcing citizens out of their homes. At the same time, the siege and incursions persist with military reinforcements and punitive measures against citizens. The ongoing aggression on Tulkarem has resulted in the martyrdom of 13 citizens, including a child and two women, one of whom was eight months pregnant, in addition to the injury and arrest of dozens and the forced displacement of more than 12,000 citizens from Nour Shams refugee camp, and another 12,000 from Tulkarem refugee camp, in addition to unprecedented destruction of infrastructure, homes, shops, and vehicles.

REPORT: 30% SURGE IN IOF AND SETTLERS' CRIMES AGAINST PALESTINIANS

In comparison to last year, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported a sharp increase in crimes committed against Palestinians by the IOF and settlers in the West Bank in the first two months of 2025. The monthly average shows an increase of approximately 30%, with 139 attacks in the first two months of 2025. This indicates that the annual rate of attacks could reach more than 800 if the current trend persists. In 2024, approximately 673 terrorist attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians were recorded, injuring at least 200 Palestinians, while 2023 witnessed 1,049 terrorist attacks. Over the past two years, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) has documented the displacement of more than 2,000 Palestinians across the occupied West Bank due to escalating settler violence and restrictions on movement and access.

REPORT: INVESTIGATION ON THE IOF'S USE OF PALESTINIANS AS HUMAN SHIELDS

According to Haaretz, the Israeli occupation authorities have recently begun investigating its army's use of Palestinian civilians as human shields during its genocidal aggression against the Gaza Strip. The occupation authorities are investigating only six cases in which Palestinian civilians were used as human shields. This is despite the widespread commission of this crime by the IOF during the genocide. This investigation follows international pressure and a Red Cross report, which "includes testimonies from Palestinian civilians in Gaza who were coerced into serving as human shields for soldiers during military operations."

NEW PAPER: “MORE THAN A HUMAN CAN BEAR”

The paper by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, details Israel's "systematic use of sexual, reproductive and other gender-based violence" since 7 October 2023. The report highlights "Israel's widespread destruction of Gaza and the disproportionate violence against women and children," describes the IOF's "deliberate attacks on sexual and reproductive health care facilities and the collapsed health care infrastructure in Gaza," and "examines the sharp increase in sexual and gender-based violence" conducted by the IOF and Israeli settlers "online and in person across the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including rape and other forms of sexual violence."

Since the onset of Israel's genocidal aggression on Gaza, the IOF has killed 48,524 Palestinians and wounded 111,955 more. Since the ceasefire took effect on 19 January,

approximately 845 bodies have been retrieved (until 11 March). Between 4 and 11 March, the IOF killed 24 Palestinians and injured 92 others.

In the occupied West Bank, incl. Jerusalem, since 7 October 2023, the IOF has killed  938 Palestinians, incl. 187 children and 19 women, and injured at least 7,903 others. Following her arrest on 6 February for alleged incitement, the Israeli occupation authorities released 12-year-old Tuqa Ghazawi from Jerusalem on 10 March. The terms of her release included house arrest, a one-month ban from returning to her family home, a fine of 3,000 shekels, and a third-party guarantee. In a testimony by a 7-year-old Ibrahim Abu Ghali from Jenin, he recounted how the IOF killed his grandmother and released him naked.

The past week witnessed a significant escalation in Israeli colonial activities in the occupied West Bank, including:

• Israeli settlers established a new colonial installation (outpost) on lands belonging to Huwara, south of Nablus. Rana Abu Haniya, head of the Public Relations Department at the Huwara Municipality, reported that the settlers set up tents and greenhouses on top of Mount Ras Zeid in the Za'tara Basin after bulldozing the land there more than a month ago. This comes as part of the settlers' attempts to establish eight new colonial installations in the occupied West Bank to further fragment Palestinian geography and impose more illegal facts on the ground.
• The occupation authorities decided to transform the "Edorim" colonial installation, located on Dura lands south of Hebron, into an officially recognized settlement under Israeli law. This is in complete violation of international law, which deems all Israeli settlements and settlement activities illegal. This colonial installation was established four years ago and currently houses 26 families. The land, belonging to Dura citizens, was seized in the 1970s to establish the "Edorim" military base.
• The IOF continues bulldozing land in the northern Jordan Valley to pave more colonial roads. This consumes more pastureland used by Palestinian farmers for livestock, undermining Palestinian farmers' livelihoods. Settlers have established two pastoral colonial installations in the area, making it even harder for Palestinian farmers to reach their fields.
• Under the IOF's heavy protection, a group of Israeli settlers stormed the "Shrine of Yaqub’s Daughters" archaeological site in Tulkarem. In addition to Israeli settlers' escalated terror attacks against Palestinian citizens, local sources report that settlers have also intensified their raids on historical and archaeological sites in the West Bank.
• The Israeli occupation is attempting to roof the courtyard of the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron. The Minister of Endowments and Religious Affairs, Mohammad Najem, affirmed the Palestinian rejection of this attempt aimed at undermining the historical and heritage status of the mosque. He noted that the occupation authorities aim to convert the mosque into a synagogue and are working to strip the ministry of its powers, seize complete control of the site, and erase its religious, historical, heritage, and Islamic characteristics. In 2017, UNESCO designated the mosque and Hebron’s old city as a World Heritage Site.

• The Ministry of National Economy issued an urgent appeal on Saturday to the United Nations and nations around the world to pressure the Israeli occupation government to promptly cease using hunger and deprivation as methods of war against the Palestinian people, particularly in the Gaza Strip. The appeal came on World Consumer Rights Day, marked on 15 March, which was recognized by the United Nations in 1983. This year's theme is "Sustainable Lifestyles." In its appeal, the Ministry said that amidst the collapse of all necessities of life in Gaza, Israel refuses to allow the entry of essential health and humanitarian needs, especially water, electricity, and food, and is enforcing a siege on various cities in the West Bank, especially in the north where 41,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced. The Ministry noted that about 900 military checkpoints in the occupied West Bank currently restrict people and goods movement.
   
• The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates warned in a statement of the dangers of Israel prolonging its genocide and displacement of the Palestinian people in Gaza and escalating the crime of using starvation and thirst as a weapon in its destructive genocidal aggression against the Strip, depriving more than 2 million Palestinians of their most basic human and civil rights. The Ministry viewed this as an Israeli disregard of international efforts to end the genocide and initiate relief and reconstruction operations, the outcomes of the recent emergency Arab Summit, international legitimacy resolutions, and the provisional orders issued by the International Court of Justice.
   
• In response to Israel's new visa and registration rules for international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip, intended to suppress, isolate, and silence Palestinian organizations and their human rights advocacy efforts, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said the occupation aims to isolate the Palestinian people further and to conceal its grave violations of international law, the Geneva Conventions, and signed agreements. The Ministry urged for effective international intervention to stop the occupation's measures against organizations operating in the humanitarian field, characterizing this coercive mechanism as part of Israel's systematic policy to obscure the facts and conceal evidence.