Publications
On 19 July, Israeli forces (reportedly border police officers) shot with a rubber bullet and killed a 12-year-old Palestinian boy during clashes near the northern entrance of Ar Ram town (Jerusalem). Since 12 July, Ar Ram has been a flashpoint for military operations and clashes. This incident brings the total number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since the beginning of 2016 in the oPt, to 76, including 22 children, of whom 18 were killed during protests and clashes.
In the West Bank, Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinian men in two separate incidents. On 18 July, a Palestinian man stabbed and injured two Israeli soldiers at the entrance of Al Arrub refugee camp (Hebron) and was subsequently shot and severely injured; he died of his wounds the following day. On 12 July, during a search and arrest operation in Ar Ram town (Jerusalem), Israeli forces opened fire at a vehicle and killed a 22-year-old Palestinian and injured two others; according to Israeli media reports, the soldiers suspected that the Palestinians were about to ram them, a version denied by local Palestinian sources.
Longstanding restrictions on the movement of people and goods to and from Gaza have undermined the living conditions of 1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza. Many of the current restrictions, originally imposed by Israel in the early 1990s, were intensified after June 2007, following the Hamas takeover of Gaza and the imposition of a blockade. Though there has been a welcome increase in the movement of people and goods from Gaza, these restrictions continue to reduce access to livelihoods, essential services and housing, disrupt family life, and undermine people’s hopes for a secure and prosperous future. The situation has been compounded by the restrictions imposed since June 2013 by the Egyptian authorities at Rafah Crossing, which had become the main crossing point used by Palestinian passengers in the Gaza Strip, given the above restrictions on the Israeli- controlled crossings.
On 9 July, an Israeli settler was injured in a shooting attack, reportedly from a Palestinian-plated vehicle on road 356 near Tuqu’ village (Bethlehem), according to Israeli media. The suspected perpetrator reportedly fled the scene to the village of Sa’ir (Hebron). Following the attack, Israeli forces blocked all entrances leading to and from Sai’r and conducted search and arrest operations in the area, during which two Palestinians were injured. Also, in a suspected ramming attack on 6 July, a Palestinian man rammed into an Israeli military vehicle near Neve Daniyyel junction (Bethlehem), injuring three Israeli soldiers. He was injured and subsequently arrested by Israeli forces. Additionally, on 5 July, a 17-year-old Palestinian girl was injured by live ammunition by Israeli forces: according to video footage, she threatened soldiers with a knife at a bus stop near Haris (Salfit).
Op-ed by Robert Piper, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator, published in Al Quds newspaper: "As if 49 years of occupation and nine years of closures are not inflicting enough suffering on innocent Palestinians, the long-standing divisions between Fatah and Hamas are making things even worse for people in Gaza especially. Despite the swearing-in of a Government of National Consensus in April 2014, the gap between Ramallah and Gaza city seems to be widening not narrowing."
Two Israelis were killed and six others were injured in four Palestinian attacks and alleged attacks across the West Bank and Israel; three of the suspected perpetrators were killed on the spot. On 30 June, a Palestinian youth stabbed and killed a 13-year-old Israeli girl in the settlement of Kiryat Arba’ (Hebron), and was subsequently shot dead by settlement guards. The same day, a Palestinian man stabbed and injured two Israelis in Netanya (Israel), and was then shot dead by an Israeli civilian. On 1 July, Israeli forces shot and killed a 27-years-old Palestinian woman who allegedly attempted to stab one of them in the H2 area of Hebron city. Later that day, unknown assailants opened fire at an Israeli-plated car on Road 60 (Hebron), killing an Israeli settler and injuring his wife and two children (15 and 13 years old), and escaped the scene.
Over half of Gaza’s seashore is severely polluted and unsuitable for swimming due to the shortage of adequate sanitation infrastructure. All the health facilities in Gaza damaged or destroyed during the 2014 hostilities have been rehabilitated, with the exception of a totally-destroyed hospital lacking the necessary funding. Living conditions in a Jerusalem suburb, Az Za’ayem, deteriorated due to the Barrier and related access restrictions, triggering significant displacement. Over 62,000 dunums were ratified as “state land”in 2015, the largest total since 2005; this is a step prior to the allocation of land for settlement expansion.
Between 7 July and 26 August 2014, the Gaza Strip experienced the deadliest and most devastating round of hostilities since the beginning of the Israeli occupation in 1967. Two years on, most people and institutions are still struggling to cope with their immense losses. The seven weeks of conflict worsened an already poor humanitarian situation driven by the years-long Israeli blockade and aggravated by the internal Palestinian divide, both of which still remain in place today.
In recent years, the longstanding shortage of adequate sanitation infrastructure in the Gaza Strip has resulted in the discharge of around 90 million litres of untreated or partially treated sewage into the sea every day, posing serious health and environmental hazards. Development of water and sanitation infrastructure has been severely impacted by the import restrictions imposed by Israel in its nine-year blockade of the Gaza Strip. At present, as many as 23 WASH items such as pumps, drilling equipment and disinfectant chemicals are on the Israeli “dual use” list, meaning that entry of such items to Gaza is severely restricted.
In early July 2014, the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH) and the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that Gaza’s struggling health sector was near to collapse due to the severe shortages of medicines, medical disposables and fuel, and the lack of capacity to expand services to meet population needs. In the days and weeks following that warning, the health sector was confronted with over 11,200 injuries, among them more than 3,800 children, which is the highest number of injuries for such period of time it had ever faced. The challenge to the health system posed by the 2014 hostilities has extended into the present; approximately 900 of those injured sustained some form of permanent disability and require continued attention, while a significant part of the health infrastructure was damaged.
