Updates

Attacks on Israeli Civilians by Palestinians

Testimony: Life in southern Israel during Operation Pillar of Defense

From the testimony of Julia Chaitin: "Then there was another alert. We were across from the dining hall and ran inside. The dining hall is not reinforced either. People there told us to go and stand in the stairwell. We went to the stairwell. We heard many explosions very close by. Everything was shaking and I could actually feel the shock of the explosions."

20 November 2012

The Gaza Strip

A 9-year-old and a 16-year-old were killed in an air strike in Beit Hanun, 15 Nov. 2012.

According to testimonies gathered by B’Tselem, on Thursday, 15 Nov. 2012, an Israeli military air strike took place in an urban area in Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip. B’Tselem does not know the objective of the strike. A large crater was created at the point of impact and nearby houses were extensively damaged. Two boys, a 9-year-old and a 16-year-old, who lived in two of the buildings that were damaged, were killed. They sustained fatal injuries from shrapnel as they lay asleep in their homes. The fathers of the two dead boys described the incident to B’Tselem by telephone.

20 November 2012

The Gaza Strip

Testimony: 'Awad a-Nahal killed in a bombing near his home in Rafah while trying to aid a wounded man, 17 Nov. 2012

A B’Tselem inquiry shows that on the morning of 17 November 2012, an Israeli attack targeted three armed men in Rafah. Two of them were killed on the spot and a third was wounded. Shortly afterwards, while 'Awad a-Nahal, age 31, a resident of a nearby house, was trying to evacuate the injured man, a second attack killed both the armed man and the civilian trying to evacuate him.

20 November 2012

Attacks on Israeli Civilians by Palestinians

Testimony: Civilians injured in rocket attack near Ofakim, 18 November 2012

On Sunday 18 November 2012, Judi Ronen, a 58-year-old resident of Sde Nitzan was on her way home from Soroka Hospital in Beersheba where she works as a midwife. On the road just outside the city of Ofakim, a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip exploded near the car in which she was a passenger. The Magen David website reports that four people were injured in the rocket attack: one seriously, one moderately and two suffered mild injuries. Ronen relayed the description of events to B'Tselem.

20 November 2012

The Gaza Strip

Two toddlers killed in a bombing in Tel a-Za’tar near Beit Lahiya

Testimony gathered by B’Tselem reveals that in the early morning hours of Sunday, 18 November 2012, an Israeli aircraft fired at the ground near the Sa’ifan family home in the Tel a-Za’tar neighborhood. The strength of the explosion collapsed the room on top of the sleeping Sa’ifan family: mother, father, and two children. Their son Tammer, age 4, and daughter Jomanah, age 2, were killed. B’Tselem is continuing to investigate the circumstances of the incident that caused the death of Tammer and Jomanah Sa’ifan.

20 November 2012

Attacks on Israeli Civilians by Palestinians

Testimony: Life in southern Israel during Operation Pillar of Defense

"During one of the sirens that day, I was with a few other students in the migunit. Even when the sirens stopped, we didn’t want to leave. It looked like a support group. We stayed together in the small, dark migunit and just stood there for 20 minutes after the sirens stopped, just standing and talking. It was as if we were trying to bring ourselves back to normal daily living."

19 November 2012

Attacks on Israeli Civilians by Palestinians

Testimony: Running an educational institute in the shadow of rockets from Gaza

"There are children here who show behavioral regression. I know that some are unwilling to sleep anywhere in a house except in the secure room, even on ordinary days. Even though they are 13-14 years old and have siblings who are 5 or 6, they all sleep there and they aren’t willing to sleep alone; they are afraid to sleep alone."

19 November 2012

The Gaza Strip

Testimony: Living in Gaza in the shadow of hostilities - the Shahin family, Gaza City

"The children’s conversation is about the types of missiles and planes. It hurts me so much to hear them talking about these things, instead of games or things they are learning in kindergarten or that they did with their friends. What kind of life do they have with this situation looming over them? We try to keep them busy and distract them from the news and what is happening, but what is happening is stronger."

19 November 2012

Attacks on Israeli Civilians by Palestinians

Initial findings of first 3 days of Gaza operation: 13 of Palestinians killed by Israeli military were civilians, including 7 children

Initial B'Tselem investigations indicate that between the launch of the Israeli military’s “Pillar of Defense” operation and the night of 17 Nov., 43 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip from Israeli fire. At least 13 of them were civilians, including seven children (five of them toddlers under the age of 4), and two women. Three Israelis have been killed as a result of rocket fire from Gaza by Palestinian militant organizations.

18 November 2012

Attacks on Israeli Civilians by Palestinians

Testimony of Adva Yehudai, 16, about life in Kibbutz Zikim in the shadow of rockets from Gaza

"Once I did experience a really difficult incident with a rocket falling on the kibbutz. One day, about six months ago, I was alone at home and standing near the window and suddenly I heard a whistling and an insane boom and I could feel the shock wave there at the window. There was no Red Alert beforehand. So I just ran to the secure room and began screaming and I couldn’t stand up and the Qassam had landed next to the neighbor’s house. That was a horrifying moment, and even now I tremble a little when I talk about it."

18 November 2012

Attacks on Israeli Civilians by Palestinians

Testimonies of young people from Kibbutz Zikim on rocket damage at the kibbutz, 2006

" I was 8 years old and in third grade. We were at the children’s house playing Frisbee outside. Suddenly there was a "Code Red" Alert. Everyone hid behind trees but I ran by myself in another direction; maybe it was the stress. I looked up at the sky and saw the Qassam coming toward me. I was able to get behind one of the trees and then the rocket fell and I was injured in the leg by shrapnel."

18 November 2012

The Gaza Strip

Learning the Lessons of the Past to protect Gaza civilians

Yesterday, 14.11.12, the Israeli military launched Operation Cloud of Defense in the Gaza Strip. Four years ago, Operation Cast Lead in Gaza caused unprecedented harm to the civilian population. B'Tselem calls on policymakers to implement the lessons learned from Operation Cast Lead in order to minimize harm to civilians during the current hostilities in Gaza.

15 November 2012

Attacks on Israeli Civilians by Palestinians

3 Israeli civilians killed from rocket fire by Palestinian organizations in Gaza

B'Tselem condemns the recent rocket fire by Palestinian organizations in the Gaza Strip at civilian areas in Israel. Today, the rocket fire killed three civilians and injured others, including a child and two babies.Aiming an attack at civilians is immoral and constitutes a war crime.

15 November 2012

Beating and Abuse

New short film: "Welcome to Bir Nabala"

The short film tells the story of the town through two wedding halls that operated there until the construction of the barrier. The film includes rare archival footage of the wedding halls' glory days, before their owners were forced to abandon them when business plummeted.

8 November 2012

East Jerusalem

Arrested Development - The Interactive Version

We've prepared an interactive version to make the key messages of the report accessible to a wider audience. An interactive map presents four case studies; a short video puts a human face to the barrier's impact in one of these places, the town of Bir Nabala; and an animated short gives a lighthearted treatment to a serious subject: the devastating impact of the permit regime for farmers with land across the barrier.

5 November 2012

Agriculture

New report on the Separation Barrier: Arrested Development

A decade after construction began on the Separation Barrier, the harm to adjacent Palestinian communities is clear. With some two-thirds of the barrier completed, it has crippled agriculture along its route. By isolating communities from each other and from their land, the barrier has eroded their ability to survive and prevents any sustainable development. This reality violates the state's commitment to the High Court that the barrier would not seriously harm these communities.

29 October 2012

Agriculture

Five attacks on olive harvesters and damaged olive groves in four days

Between October 7th and 10th, 2012, with the start of the West Bank's annual olive harvest, B'Tselem has documented five cases of injury to Palestinian farmers and their olive trees in the Ramallah and Nablus regions. In two incidents, settlers attacked farmers picking olives and damaged their yields. The accumulation of incidents since the start of the olive harvest suggests that security forces were not adequately deployed to fulfill their duty to protect Palestinian olive harvesters and their property from settler violence.

11 October 2012

Beating and Abuse

Video: Soldiers assault journalists covering demonstration. Kafr Qadum, 17 August 2012

On Friday, 17 August 2012, a B’Tselem volunteer filmed the weekly demonstration in Kafr Qadum protesting the closure of the Qadum-Nablus road. Soldiers are seen assaulting journalists with clubs. When media published the clip, the army announced a Military Police Investigation Unit inquiry to clarify the circumstances of the incident.

13 September 2012

Beating and Abuse

After viewing B'Tselem video, Israeli military judge: Innocent Palestinian man was assaulted by soldier, detained for almost a month

Yesterday, Israeli military court judge, Maj. Daniel Kfir unconditionally released ‘Abd al-’Aziz Fakhouri, a young Palestinian man who was arrested almost a month ago in Hebron by soldiers out of uniform. The judge made the ruling after watching two videos. The first video was broadcast in the Israeli media, and the second was recently uncovered by B'Tselem. The judged ruled that the videos prove that the arrest was groundless, in contrast to an official IDF spokesperson announcement.

12 September 2012

Beating and Abuse

Suspicion: Border police assaulted teen in custody. Abu Dis, 28 August 2012

Testimony collected by B’Tselem shows on 28 August 2012, Sa’id Qiblawi, age 14, chanced on an area near his home in Abu Dis where children were throwing stones at border police officers. On trying to leave, Qiblawi was stopped by a policeman who, he testified, dragged him on the ground and put him inside a jeep, where, lying on the floor, he was beaten by other police officers. More beating followed at the nearby border police base. B’Tselem contacted the DIP demanding an inquiry into his case.

11 September 2012

Beating and Abuse

Policeman Tasers Palestinians at Meymadion Water Park, 21 August 2012

On 21 August 2012, Talal a-Sayed, a resident of a-Tur in East Jerusalem, was assaulted by police during a family visit to the Meymadion water park in Tel Aviv. The assault, reported in Haaretz, was partly documented on video by a bystander. The clip shows the policeman tasering a-Sayed while he is sitting, handcuffed, on the lawn. B’Tselem collected testimonies from a-Sayed, who lodged a complaint with the Department for the Investigation of Police (DIP); another young man assaulted earlier by the police and eyewitnesses. The DIP told B’Tselem it was investigating.

5 September 2012