Israel’s High Court of Justice has given its first approval to the demolition of a home belonging to a Palestinian who committed a non-lethal attack, Israeli media is reporting.

The court upheld a decision by Defence Minister Gallant and the Israeli army to destroy a home belonging to the family of a Palestinian man accused of having shot and severely wounded a police officer on October 12.

Home demolitions had so far only been allowed the go-ahead in incidents in which the victim was killed.

Demolishing the homes of Palestinians “suspected of carrying out attacks” on Israelis is a long-held practice of Israel. Thousands of Palestinians have lost their homes to demolitions in what human rights groups say is a policy by Israel of “collective punishment” that may amount to war crimes.

Imagine your kid throws a stone at the police, next thing your house gets bulldozed. Ma

Houses get demolished for far less

Israeli Demolitions of Palestinian East Jerusalem Homes Spike Amid War; Negev Bulldozing Renewed

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-01-10/ty-article/.premium/demolitions-of-palestinian-east-jerusalem-homes-spike-amid-war-negev-bulldozing-renewed/0000018c-f35e-d28a-a1fe-f7fedf170000

During previous Gaza wars, authorities refrained from demolitions in East Jerusalem to ease tensions. However, the pace increased since October, with a 60% surge in demolished homes reported in 2023. Wednesday also marked the first demolitions in unrecognized Bedouin villages since the war began

The Jerusalem Municipality has expedited the pace of house demolitions in East Jerusalem since the war began, with 140 homes demolished in 2023, marking a 60% increase from the preceding year.

Alongside these, 84 other structures, including shops and warehouses, were also demolished. This current approach diverges from past Gaza conflict periods, where authorities refrained from demolishing homes in East Jerusalem to prevent escalating security tensions in the city.

About 4,000 Palestinians displaced in the West Bank in 2023

https://www.ochaopt.org/content/about-4000-palestinians-displaced-west-bank-2023

In 2023, about 4,000 Palestinians were displaced due to policies and practices implemented by the Israeli authorities or Israeli settlers, all contributing to a coercive environment in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem:

• A total of 1,152 Palestinians, including 575 children, were displaced when the Israeli authorities demolished or forced them to demolish their homes citing lack of Israeli-issued building permits.
• 173 Palestinians, including 70 children, were displaced when the Israeli authorities demolished their homes on punitive grounds.
• 921 Palestinians, including 394 children, were displaced during Israeli forces operations, where 222 structures were destroyed.
• At least 1,539 Palestinians, including 756 children, were displaced from their homes or communities in Area C of the West Bank amid Israeli settler violence, access restrictions, and shrinking access to grazing land.
• 200 Palestinians, including 82 children, were displaced from H2 area and Masafer Yatta in Hebron, citing increased movement restrictions imposed on their communities by Israeli forces as the primary reason.

The above numbers, representing Palestinians displaced in the West Bank, are the highest ever recorded by OCHA for a single year. OCHA has recorded the displacement of Palestinians due to demolitions systematically since 2009. While the highest rate of displacement in 2023 was caused by settler violence and access restriction, this phenomenon may not capture the full scope of Palestinians being displaced in the West Bank due to multiple coercive factors, including demolitions of Palestinian homes and property, systematic discrimination against Palestinians, Israeli forces arrests and often violent operations. Insofar as such actions are committed by or with the approval or acquiescence of the Israeli authorities to force Palestinians to leave their homes and lands or constitute actions that create conditions which force Palestinians to leave their homes and their lands, such actions raise concerns of forcible transfer, which is prohibited under international humanitarian law.

Displacement due to demolition for lacking Israeli-issued building permits

Most structures demolished in the West Bank are targeted for lacking Israeli issued building permits, which are nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain under Israel’s discriminatory planning and permit laws and policies.

In 2023 895 (70%) of structures were demolished for permit issues, 37 homes and one agricultural facility of the families of Palestinians allegedly responsible for attacks targeting Israelis in 2022 and 2023 and an additional 222 structures were destroyed during Israeli forces operations, mainly in Area A

Palestinian ministry blames Israeli far-right ministers for settler attack

Israeli media and UK newspaper The Financial Times are reporting the English-language spokesperson for the Netanyahu-led government Eylon Levy has been fired following a dispute with the British Foreign Secretary David Cameron.

Several Israeli media outlets have indicated that Levy’s firing occurred after he seemingly criticised Cameron for his comments urging Israel to let more aid trucks into Gaza.

“I hope you are also aware there are NO limits on the entry of food, water, medicine, or shelter equipment into Gaza, and in fact the crossings have EXCESS capacity,” Levy reportedly said in a post on X that has now been deleted, according to Times of Israel, citing media outlet Channel 12.

Israeli news outlet Haaretz has reported that while the prime minister’s office confirmed the suspension, they did not specify a reason.



They can afford a lot more, but it's a start

Saudi Arabia announces $40m donation to UN agency for Palestinians

Gaza Civil Defense: Israel refuses to allow access to wounded in Gaza City

Palestinians displaced from the al-Shifa Hospital, where they were sheltering in Gaza City, tell Al Jazeera they were detained for several hours and then instructed to move south.

Saleh Abu Sakran, an elderly man, said he was instructed to take off his clothes and get on his knees. “The Israelis kept the women at al-Shifa but took us to another nearby building where we stayed until the evening,” he said.

“They took our IDs and investigated us and eventually returned us back to al-Shifa. They kept some of the men. They rest of us were told to follow an Israeli tank until the roundabout – and then we were freed.”

A Palestinian woman said Israeli soldiers fired on them despite them raising white sheets. “The soldiers spoke to us in English and we didn’t understand them. I’m diabetic and I was without food or water for three days.”

Footage of a four-year-old girl whose face was severely burned by an Israeli attack on her house in the Jabalia refugee camp, in northern Gaza, has sparked anger among social media users and triggered calls for help.

Saja Junaid was receiving treatment at al-Shifa Hospital when she was forced to leave with her family after the Israeli army stormed the compound on Monday, putting her life at risk.

Journalist Hani Abu Rizk, who reported the young girl’s story, said she was displaced from Gaza City to Deir el-Balah following the Israeli raid. He added that the child had not eaten in three days because her father could not find any food to give her.

Meanwhile, social media users launched the Arabic hashtag “Save Saja Junaid” to ask the UN and relief organisations to ensure and provide medical treatment.

Emergency surgeon Mads Gilbert, who worked at Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital during previous wars, has shared in an interview with Al Jazeera the harrowing details provided by his former colleagues at the medical compound after Israel’s latest raid.

“Medical staff have been arrested and left for hours in the cold,” the Norwegian physician said. The Israeli army scanned their faces with a camera and took them for what they described as “humiliating investigations”, he added.

“Some were forced to leave the hospital and taken to unknown places. Others were displaced to the south half naked,” Gilbert said. “One doctor was shot in the chest when he followed the orders to leave the hospital and later went into surgery at al-Ahli Arab Hospital.”

Gilbert also said the Israeli army in its “repeated attacks” does not differentiate “between fighters and medical staff, patients and refugees”.

He said that as a result of Monday’s raid, al-Shifa Hospital was again nonoperational, putting at risk the lives of Palestinians in northern Gaza, where starvation, lack of water and disease are life-threatening in addition to the war.

Hamas senior official Osama Hamdan has said the Israeli response to the group’s latest Gaza ceasefire proposal was negative, making it likely that the talks in Qatar would again fail to yield an agreement.

Israel’s response to the three-stage proposal handed to mediators was “negative and did not respond to the demands of our people”, he said. These included the cessation of the hostilities in Gaza, the return of the displaced to their homes and the withdrawal of the Israeli military from the strip.

While Hamas showed “flexibility,” Israel backed away from what it had previously agreed on and continued “to procrastinate”, Hamdan said, “which could lead the negotiations to a dead end.” He blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for blocking the agreement and added that the US must stop sending arms to Israel if it truly wants to stop “genocide” in Gaza.

Hamas official Osama Hamdan says Israel continues to target civilian areas to strengthen its hand in ceasefire discussions. “With every round of negotiations, it escalates its crimes against our people, thinking that with such crimes it may achieve gains at the negotiating table,” said Hamdan.

“We affirm again that what the occupation does not take in the military battle and the crime of genocide, it will not take it with the machinations of politics and the games of negotiations.”

Hamdan said “approvals” previously agreed on in talks have now been retracted by Israel, calling it a “policy of procrastination”.


https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/20/gaza-ceasefire-talks-what-are-israel-and-hamas-saying

In response to the latest Hamas truce offer, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was still based on “unrealistic demands”.

Netanyahu has said that Israel still plans to invade Rafah, the last and southern most refuge of Palestinians who fled months of Israeli bombardment, to realise its goal of defeating Hamas.

One fundamental disagreement between the two sides is that Hamas wants a permanent ceasefire while Israel insists on the ‘total eradication of Hamas’.