Israeli occupation has killed 167 Palestinians since the start of this year

OCCUPIED AL-QUDS, (ST)- Israeli occupation has killed 167 Palestinians and wounded hundreds more since the start of this year, a Palestinian human rights organization has said.

The organization documented the martyrdom of 167 Palestinians, including 34 children, since the beginning of this year. “51 of them were martyred during the recent Israeli attack on the besieged Gaza Strip last August, and 116 others were shot by the occupation in the West Bank, including 45 martyrs in Jenin and 19 in Nablus, Jerusalem and the West Bank.”

As many as 1,277 Palestinians were injured, including 195 children, 39 women and 22 journalists, while three Palestinians, including a woman, died in Israeli prisons  during the same period, according to the same source.

The rights watchdog added that the Israeli occupation forces have displaced 108 families, consisting of 648 individuals, including 123 women and 300 children, because of the destruction of 113 homes and 41 residential tents, since the beginning of the year.

Occupation forces have also destroyed 81 civilian structures, bulldozed large areas of land, delivered dozens of demolition notices, halted construction of Palestinian properties and issued eviction notices.

Palestinian government’s spokesman Ibrahim Melhem told the reporter of the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) that the Israeli occupation is implementing a systematic and dangerous policy, which is based on carrying out daily killing operations against Palestinians, children, men and women, desecrating Islamic and Christian sanctities and demolishing homes in an attempt to undermine the steadfastness of the Palestinians on their land.

He called on the international community to intervene urgently to stop the escalation of the occupation, and to ensure that it does not go unpunished for its crimes.

The Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative, Mustafa Al-Barghouti, said that the occupation forces are escalating their storming operations into the cities and towns of the West Bank, and provide protection for settlers to escalate their attacks on Palestinians and their property, in light of a systematic policy that will not stop unless the international community stands by them, and abandons its silence, which constitutes a cover that encourages the occupation to commit more war crimes against humanity.

He asserted that the events and the popular uprising in Palestinian cities, camps and villages continue to confront the occupation.

Basma Qaddour