Updates

The Gaza Strip

Israel must not bomb a-Shifaa Hospital

There are currently thousands of sick and injured patients, medical staff, and tens of thousands of residents who fled their homes sheltering in the largest hospital in Gaza. According to Israel, Hamas is running a military base underneath it. If that is the case, Hamas is committing a war crime. However, bombing the site would cause horrifying harm to civilians and constitute a war crime in itself – violating the provisions of international humanitarian law, which Israel repeatedly professes to uphold...

7 November 2023

Settler Violence = State Violence

Emergency call to the international community - stop the forcible transfer in the West Bank

Human rights and civil society NGOs in Israel call on the international community to act urgently to stop the state-backed wave of settler violence which has led to the forcible transfer of Palestinian communities in the West Bank. Since Hamas's atrocities of October 7th, settlers have been exploiting the lack of public attention to the West Bank, as well as the general atmosphere of rage against Palestinians, to escalate their campaign of violent attacks in an attempt to forcibly transfer Palestinian communities. At least 13 communities have been displaced. See list of communities

29 October 2023

The Gaza Strip

Protect civilians from the impact of hostilities

Israel’s airstrikes since the start of the war are an abject violation of the principles of international humanitarian law and constitute a war crime. The massive scale of destruction in the Gaza Strip is unprecedented. The horrifying death toll, which rises every day, is unfathomable: according to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 7,000 people have been killed, including almost 3,000 minors, more than 1,700 women, and dozens of families who were killed together when their houses collapsed on them. More than 17,000 people have been injured…

27 October 2023

Attacks on Israeli Civilians by Palestinians

Human beings are not bargaining chips – release the captives now

Hamas must immediately release all the hostages, with no conditions. Until then, it must provide accurate information about them, ensure they are safe and protected, and treat them with humanity and dignity. Israel must act now to strike a deal to release the captives. Their lives are in danger and the state has a duty to do everything in its power to bring them back...

23 October 2023

Settler Violence = State Violence

Under cover of Gaza war, settlers working to fulfil state goal of Judaizing Area C

Since the war in Gaza began, violence against Palestinians has shot up in the West Bank. In just ten days, soldiers and settlers have killed 62 Palestinians and injured dozens. Israel has put up roadblocks throughout the West Bank, closed off main roads to Palestinians and significantly restricted their movement. Israel has also ramped up efforts to drive Palestinian communities and single-family farms out of their homes and land, cynically exploiting the war to promote its political agenda of taking over more land in the West Bank...

19 October 2023

The Gaza Strip

One crime does not justify another. The attack against civilians in Gaza must end

Targeting civilians is prohibited, no matter the circumstances, and no objective in the world can justify it: not the shocking crimes committed by Hamas in Israeli communities near the Gaza border, not an all-out war on terror, not the desire to replace the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip. That is also why there is absolutely no justification for the war crimes Israel has been committing in the Gaza Strip for the past 12 days...

19 October 2023

Communities Facing Expulsion

Expulsion of the ‘Ein a-Rashash community

The community of ‘Ein a-Rashash lived by the West Bank central mountain ridge from the early 1990s to October 2023. It was home to 18 families, numbering 85 people in total, 25 of them minors. In recent years, settlers established several outposts in area. They frequently attacked the residents of ‘Ein a-Rashash and of nearby communities, incessantly harassed them and prevented their access to pastureland.

16 October 2023

Suffering does not justify suffering and, one injustice does not justify another and one crime does not warrant another

Israel is planning to send tens of thousands of soldiers into the Gaza Strip at any moment, a ground invasion whose proportions are not yet known. Top government and military officials have been calling for revenge, promising to ravage Gaza and cause unthinkable harm to hundreds of thousands of civilians. We must stop this now. One week ago, Hamas committed horrifying crimes in southern Israel. However, another cruel campaign of revenge against the two million residents of Gaza is prohibited. Hamas’ crimes do not make Israel’s current and future crimes right or lawful...

15 October 2023

A humanitarian disaster in Gaza must be averted

Ever since the horrifying war crimes perpetrated by Hamas on Saturday, Israel has been bombing Gaza relentlessly and indiscriminately. Thousands of tons of bombs have been dropped, and residents have nowhere to flee. So far, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, more than 500 teens, children and babies have been killed, as well as more than 276 women and dozens of families; more than 6,600 have been injured; entire neighborhoods have been wiped out, essential infrastructure has been destroyed, and more than 423,000 people have been displaced....

13 October 2023

B’Tselem: Hamas must release all captives immediately; Israeli government must advance deal to release them

In the Saturday attack, Hamas militants kidnapped more than 150 people from Israeli territory – including babies, older children, women and the elderly. They are being held in violation of basic moral and human rules and in flagrant violation of international law, with no indication of any intention to let them go [...]. B'Tselem calls on the international community to use every means at its disposal to urge the Israeli government and Hamas to forge a deal for releasing the captives.

11 October 2023

The Gaza Strip

Revenge policy in motion; Israel committing war crimes in Gaza

On Saturday, hundreds of Palestinian militants entered Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing hundreds of civilians, soldiers and police officers, burning down homes and kidnapping more than 100 people. The full extent of these horrifying crimes is slowly coming to light. The same evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israel is at war with Gaza and will “forcefully avenge“. He promised to reduce Hamas locations to rubble and told Gazans: “Get out now. We will act everywhere and with full force”...

10 October 2023

Attacks on Israeli Civilians by Palestinians

Abandoning the basic moral principle that all human beings were created equal (“b’tselem elohim”) is a loss of humanity

On Saturday, Hamas committed a shocking crime whose horrifying dimensions are slowly becoming clear. Hundreds of Palestinian militants entered Israeli territory and opened fire indiscriminately, killing hundreds of civilians and injuring thousands. They burned down homes with the occupants inside and kidnapped more than 100 people – including children, women and elderly people – to be used as bargaining chips. Many others are still missing, their fate unknown...

9 October 2023

A Routine Founded on Violence

Israeli soldiers detain Palestinians, including a 16-year-old boy, at a checkpoint, mistreat them, and steal their money

On Friday, 18 August 2023, at around 11:30 P.M., cousins Mahmoud (18) and Yihya (16) a-Nawaj’ah arrived at the Meitar checkpoint. They were traveling in a car belonging to a Palestinian citizen of Israel. The two were on their way back from Israel to their home in the community of al-Jawaya, which lies southeast of the town of Yatta in the South Hebron Hills. When they reached the checkpoint, Israeli soldiers had the driver and two passengers get out of the car and conducted body searches on them. The soldiers took their bags, cellphones, and a bracelet and ring Yihya was wearing. They also took 8,000 NIS (~2,100 USD) in cash, money the cousins had earned working and were carrying in their pockets...

5 October 2023

Settler Violence = State Violence

Israeli settlers enter Burqah village lands. During clashes with residents trying to drive them away, one of the settlers shoots and kills a villager

In early August 2023, Israeli settlers established a new “agricultural farm” on lands owned by residents of the Palestinian village of Burqah, Ramallah District. The settlers began grazing their flock on village lands and harassing the residents. On Friday, 4 August 2023, at around 6:00 P.M., about five settlers appeared on the lands adjacent to the village homes while several young men from the village were having a picnic, including 18-year-old Qusai Mu’tan...

3 October 2023

Open-Fire Policy

Israeli forces kill two Palestinians (24 and 16) in separate incidents that began with protests against landgrab in the village of Um Safa

In two separate clashes that erupted in the village of Um Safa, Israeli forces killed two Palestinians. On Friday, 7 July 2023, soldiers fatally shot ‘Abd al-Jawad Dar Saleh (24), who was standing on a hill watching the area after the clashes ended. Two weeks later, on 21 July 2023, Border Police officers shot and killed Muhammad Bayed (16), while he was throwing stones at them...

28 September 2023

Open-Fire Policy

“Operation Home and Garden”: 48 Hours of violence and destruction in Jenin Refugee Camp

In the beginning of July, Israel carried out “Operation Home and Garden” in Jenin R.C., home to 23,600 residents. Some 1,000 Israelis soldiers, Border Police officers and Shin Bet personnel were deployed across the camp during the two-day operation. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), some 3,500 residents – children, women, men and the elderly – fled their homes, some not knowing where...

21 September 2023

Communities Facing Expulsion

The pogroms are working - the transfer is already happening

For decades, Israel has employed a slew of measures designed to make life in dozens of Palestinian communities throughout the West Bank miserable. This is part of an attempt to force residents of these communities to uproot themselves, seemingly of their own accord. Once that is achieved, the state can realize its goal of taking over the land. To advance this objective, Israel forbids members of these communities from building homes...

18 September 2023

A Routine Founded on Violence

Violence, collective punishment, and systematic looting of Jewelry and money: four nighttime home invasions in Hebron, May-June 2023

During May and June 2023, B’Tselem documented four separate instances in which dozens of Israeli soldiers raided the homes of extended Palestinian families in Areas H1 and H2 in the city of Hebron in the middle of the night. T, waking up members of the household, including young children. The soldiers, most of whom were masked, had dogs with them...

6 September 2023

The South Hebron Hills

NIF awards 2023 Truth to Power prize to B'Tselem field researcher Nasser Nawaj’ah for his work defending human rights in the Occupied Territories

Last night (Monday), the New Israel Fund awarded the inaugural Truth to Power Prize to B'Tselem field researcher in the South Hebron Hills, Nasser Nawaj’ah. The award is given to honor the memory of the late William S. Goldman, a professor of history and an NIF board member. It is awarded to “individuals that stand up for truth and give voice to the silenced, often at great personal, organizational, financial or reputational risk."...

5 September 2023

A Routine Founded on Violence

Soldiers enter homes of extended ‘Ajlouni family with dogs, separate children from their parents and steal items. Female soldiers strip search women

On Monday, 10 July 2023, at around 1:30 A.M., dozens of masked soldiers, with dogs, entered homes belonging to the extended ’Ajlouni family in the neighborhood of Khallat al-Qaba in southern Hebron. They threatened, using their weapons, 26 members of the family who were home at the time, and confined them to one of the apartments. The soldiers handcuffed three family members, one of them a 17-year-old boy, blindfolded them and took them to another apartment. They then separated the remaining men from the women and children, who were kept in the living room and searched them in a separate room...

5 September 2023

Open-Fire Policy

Israeli soldiers spray Palestinian car with bullets for no reason, killing 18-year-old driver

On Friday, 21 July 2023, at around 11:00 P.M., Israeli soldiers arrived in the Palestinian town of Sabastiya, parked their military jeeps and started walking toward the center of the town. Fawzi Makhalfeh (18) and his friend Muhammad Mukheimar (19) were driving down a road that leads to the street where the soldiers were walking at the same time. Makhalfeh, who was driving, turned onto the street where the soldiers were walking. One of the soldiers shouted “stop” to them, and immediately after, the soldiers fired live fire rounds at the car...

28 August 2023

Settler Violence = State Violence

The Turmusaya Pogrom: Settlers and soldiers attacked residents. A special police force killed a Palestinian youth

On Wednesday, 21 June 2023, at approximately 1:30 P.M., hundreds of settlers – some of them masked and armed with guns, pistols, metal rods, and Molotov cocktails – entered the village of Turmusaya in the district of Ramallah escorted by soldiers. The settlers entered the northeastern neighborhood of the village, attacked 30 houses and set fire to 10 of them, nine of which completely burned....

24 August 2023