Israel notifies Palestinian of the demolition of his house in the south of West Bank

The Israeli occupation military authorities on Tuesday notified a Palestinian resident of Beit Awwa, to the southwest of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, of the demolition of his house, according to local sources.


Israeli forces handed Rami Ahmad Sweiti a demolition order for his three-story house located in the area classified as B, which is under Palestinian administration and Israeli security control, but near the Israeli segregation wall, said the sources.


The forces claimed the demolition was for security reason.

Infant, his family attacked by IOF with tear gas in Hizma town

Members of a Palestinian family suffered injuries when the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Monday night attacked their home in Hizma town, east of Jerusalem.


The incident happened when Israeli soldiers chased a group of youths in Martyr Mohamed Kanaan neighborhood in the central area of the town and showered a house belonging to the family of Kanaan with tear gas grenades.

Consequently, all members of the family, including an infant, suffered from their exposure to tear gas, which spread inside the house.

The infant, who is under one year of age, was rushed to a nearby medical center.

The IOF recently intensified its raids on Hizma town and its environs and set up makeshift checkpoints at its main entrances.

Angry protests in Jenin village following death of prisoner

Spontaneous angry marches and protests took place on Tuesday in the village of Silat al-Daher, south of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, home of Palestinian prisoner Sami Abu Diyak who died this morning from cancer while behind Israeli bars.


The protests started from schools with the participation of several institutions from the village and nearby villages in condemnation of the Israeli prison policy of medical negligence that led to the death of Abu Diyak. They called on the world to urgently intervene to put an end to what they said was Israeli crimes.

Shops were closed as a general strike was declared, while protesters set fire to tires and put roadblocks at the entrance of the illegal Israeli settlement of Homesh, while hoisting Palestinian flag.


Abu Diyak, 37, was detained on 17 July 2002 and was sentenced to triple life terms plus 30 years, of which he spent 17 years behind bars before his death. He was diagnosed with an intestinal cancer in September 2015 and his condition began to deteriorate as a result of medical mistakes by the Israeli Soroka hospital in the south of Israel where he underwent surgery to remove 83 cm of his large intestine.

With the death of Abu Diyak, the number of Palestinian prisoners who died as a result of medical negligence has reached 222 since 1967, more than a third of them while in custody.

Cancer-stricken Palestinian prisoner dies in Israeli jails

Cancer-stricken Palestinian prisoner Sami Abu Diyak, from the West Bank district of Jenin, died on Tuesday in Israeli occupation jails due to medical negligence, said the Palestinian Prisoner Society.


Abu Diyak, 36, was detained in 2002 and was diagnosed with intestinal cancer as well as kidney and lung failures couple of years ago.

Yesterday, the Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS) has warned that cancer-stricken prisoner Sami Abu Diyak may die any moment after his health condition reached a very critical stage.

In a letter he wrote a few days ago, the Palestinian detainee Sami Abu Diak said he wanted to "die in my mother's lap."


Today, and due to the deliberate medical neglect by "Israel," Abu Diak died, alone and handcuffed on a cold bed.

Although Abu Diak was suffering from an advanced stage of cancer and other serious health problems, the Israeli court rejected all pleas to release him to receive proper medical care.

The PPS held the Israeli occupation government fully responsible for the racist crimes committed against Palestinians, including the physical and psychological torture and medical negligence of prisoners, among other violations, calling for an investigation into these crimes.
The death of Abu Diak brings the number of Palestinian prisoners who died in Israeli jails since 1967 to 222 prisoners.

At least 700 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails suffer from serious health conditions, of whom 160 prisoners are in need of urgent medical follow-up.

Palestinians have accused the Israeli authorities of failing to provide proper medical treatment or even delay treatment to ill prisoners causing as a result deterioration in their health.

According to Addameer Prisoners Support and Human Rights organization, “in regard to adequate medical attention and treatment, Article 91 [of the Fourth Geneva Convention] emphasizes that “every place of internment shall have an adequate infirmary…” and that “Internees may not be prevented from presenting themselves to the medical authority for examination.” In addition to this article, Article 92 asserts that “Medical inspections of internees shall be made at least once a month…”. It is evident that the withholding of treatment, or access to a medical professional, is a violation of these specific provisions, and therefore a violation of international humanitarian law.”

HRW vows to continue documenting Israeli abuses despite deportation of its director

Human Rights Watch (HRW) vowed today to keep on documenting Israeli abuses of the Palestinians despite the deportation of its Palestine director Omar Shakir, according to an HRW statement, saying the deportation “reflects the [Israeli] authorities’ intensifying assault on human rights.”


Shakir will depart Israel later tonight after Israel’s Supreme Court upheld the government’s deportation order on November 5 and gave him until November 25 to leave.

HRW said Shakir will continue to monitor human rights abuses in the occupied territories from another HRW office in the region.

Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said the deportation of Shakir “will not succeed in hiding [Israel’s] human rights abuses.”

He said that this decision “shows why the international community must reboot its approach to Israel’s deteriorating human rights record. A government that expels a leading human rights investigator is not likely to stop its systematic oppression of Palestinians under occupation without much greater international pressure.”

Israel revoked the work visa of Shakir, a United States citizen, in May 2018 on the asserted grounds that his advocacy violated a 2017 law that bars entry to people who advocate a boycott of Israel or its settlements in the occupied West Bank. A district court in April, and then the Israeli Supreme Court, found that this position constitutes grounds for deportation under an expansive reading of the 2017 law.

“Neither Human Rights Watch nor Shakir as its representative has ever called for a boycott of Israel. Human Rights Watch has urged businesses to stop operating in illegal settlements as part of their global duty to avoid complicity in human rights abuses – just as it calls on businesses to comply with this duty in many other countries,” said HRW in its statement.

Recently, Israeli authorities have sought to undermine the work of human rights activists, including denying entry to a number of other international rights defenders, maligning Israeli rights advocates, imposing burdensome financial reporting requirements on them, and raiding the offices of and arresting Palestinian rights defenders. In October, Israeli authorities prevented an Amnesty International staff member from traveling out of the occupied West Bank for undisclosed “security reasons.”

This is the first time the government has used the 2017 law to try to deport someone who is lawfully inside Israel and the first time it has ordered a Human Rights Watch staff member to leave in the organization’s 30 years of working in the country, said HRW.

“Today, Israel deports Shakir because Human Rights Watch urges businesses to shun illegal settlements,” said Roth. “Who’s next – someone who calls for the International Criminal Court to examine possible crimes in Israel and Palestine or correctly calls the West Bank 'occupied’ rather than 'disputed’?”

Hamas spokesperson condemns the Israeli deportation of the director of (HRW)

In a statement released on Monday, Fawzi Barhoum, Hamas spokesperson, strongly condemned Israeli planned deportation of Human Right Watch (HRW) director in Palestine, Omar Shakir, and said it is an attempt by Israel to conceal its crimes.


Shakir was ruled to leave the country on Monday after the Israeli High Court denied him a stay pending a hearing by a panel of seven judges after a panel of three High Court judges upheld in early November an April Jerusalem District Court ruling in favor of his deportation at the request of the Israeli Interior Minister due to his alleged support for boycott of Israel activity.

Indeed, the Israeli occupation is unable to see its crimes and violations being documented by such organisations, Barhoum added.

He insisted that this Israeli demeanor aims to block reality and hide its daily violations, including killing and targeting Palestinians, in order to evade accountability.

The Israeli practices should prompt the international community to defend the rights of the Palestinian people and hold the Israeli occupation accountable for the crimes committed against Palestinians.

Israeli forces kidnap 23 Palestinians in West Bank raids

Three children among 23 Palestinians Israel detained in Jerusalem, West Bank raids

Israeli occupation forces detained on Monday 23 Palestinians, including three children, from occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank, said the Palestine Prisoner Society (PPS).


It said Israeli police raided the Occupied Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiyeh in the dead of the night, breaking into homes and detaining at least 10 Palestinians, including a child.

Over the last several months, Issawiyeh, a Palestinian village of some 20,000 people, has been facing a rise in police harassment and raids that have disrupted daily life in the neighborhood.

Meanwhile, PPS said that three Palestinians, including a 17-year-old teenager, were detained from the southern West Bank district of Hebron.

In Bethlehem district, soldiers detained three Palestinians, including two in an Israeli military raid at al-Azzeh refugee camp, north of Bethlehem city, one of them a 14-year-old boy.

In the northern West Bank, Israeli military raided Anabta town, east of Tulkarm city, where soldiers detained a Palestinian, as reported in the PPS statement.

PPS added that a similar Israeli military raid was conducted in Attil town, northeast of Tulkarm, resulting in the detention of another man.

In Ramallah district, Israeli forces rounded up two Palestinians after ransacking their home in Kobar town, north of the city.

During ensuing confrontations, soldiers opened fire at local youngsters who protested the raid. No injuries were reported though.

In addition, PPS confirmed that a 13-year-old Palestinian was detained from Aqbat Jabr refugee camp, southwest of Jericho.

Two other Palestinians were rounded up at Tammun town, south of Tubas city in the northern Jordan Valley.

Israeli forces raids cells, assaults prisoners in Nafha jail

The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Sunday stormed cells in Nafha prison and assaulted many prisoners.


According to the Palestinian Commission of Detainees’ and Ex-Detainees’ Affairs, forces from the Metzada and Dora broke into and ransacked two cells in section 13 of the jail and wreaked havoc on prisoners’ belongings.

The forces physically assaulted the prisoners in those cells and transferred prisoner Adnan al-Shalabi to solitary confinement.

Later, the Nafha jail administration decided to close all cells and sections at the pretext of containing possible angry reactions from other inmates following the raid.

Israeli forces demolish coffee shop near Bethlehem

Israeli occupation forces Monday demolished a Palestinian coffee shop in the southern West Bank village of Battir, near Bethlehem, according to a local official.


Battir mayor, Tayseer Qattoush, said that Israeli forces escorted a bulldozer to the village to tear down the coffee shop owned by Wisam Oweinh.


He pointed out that the coffee shop was built of wood and stones that do not affect the nature of the area, but rather made the place look better, stressing that Israel aims to erase the Palestinian presence in large parts of Battir in order to annex the land for settlement expansion and construction.


Battir, six kilometers west of Bethlehem, is on the UNESCO world heritage list due to its ancient terraces and Roman-era irrigation system which is still used by villagers to irrigate their crops.

It is home to a Roman spring and bath, an eco-museum and some hiking trails. Its old town is known as the Seven Widows Quarter.

Israeli forces kidnap Palestinian in Bethlehem

The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Sunday evening kidnaped a Palestinian young man during a campaign in al-Rashayda village, east of Bethlehem in the West Bank.


According to local sources, the IOF kidnaped 38-year-old Faysal al-Rashayda after ransacking his home in the village, with no known reason.


Last week, 60 Palestinians were taken prisoners during IOF campaigns in different West Bank areas.

Soldiers attack students on their way to school in Hebron

Dozens of Palestinian students and residents of the old town of Hebron sustained suffocation on Monday after Israeli soldiers fired teargas canisters at them while on their way to school and at homes in the Israeli-controlled section of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, according to local sources.


They said the soldiers fired teargas canisters at schools, including a kindergarten, and homes located near a military checkpoint causing dozens of suffocation cases and panic among the children and their families.

Tension has been high in the occupied city in the last few days after tens of thousands of fanatic settlers stormed the city and some attacked families in their homes and shops in the occupied section.


A child was also injured in the head from stones thrown by settlers who seem to have been emboldened in their attacks and taking over of Palestinian homes and land following the US declaration that settlements are not inconsistent with international law.

Palestinian youth injured in IOF shooting near Hebron

Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Sunday afternoon shot and wounded a Palestinian youth in Beit Ummar town, north of Hebron City.


Activist Mohammed Awad said that IOF soldiers stationed near the illegal settlement of Karmei Tzur opened fire at the Palestinian youth Abdullah Abu Maria, 21, injuring him in the thigh.


Awad said that Abu Maria was later taken to a local hospital for treatment.

Israeli forces shoot, injure youth near Hebron

A Palestinian was shot and injured Sunday evening by Israeli forces’ live fire in the town of Beit Ummar, in the southern occupied West Bank district of Hebron, said a local activist.

Mohammed Awad, a media activist, said Israeli forces stationed near the Israeli settlement of Karmi Tzur, built illegally on Palestinian land to the south of Hebron, opened fire at Abdallah Abu Mariya, 21, shooting him in the thigh. Forces used a gun suppressor in the shooting.

He was transferred to hospital for medical treatment.

Scores of settlers defile Aqsa Mosque

Dozens of Jewish settlers on Sunday desecrated the Aqsa Mosque’s courtyards under tight police protection.

According to local sources, groups of settlers received explanations about the alleged temple mount as they were touring the Mosque’s courtyards.

The Aqsa Mosque is exposed to daily desecration by Jewish settlers in the morning and the afternoon except on Fridays and Saturdays.

The Israeli police close al-Maghariba Gate, which is used by Jews to enter the Mosque, at 10:30 am after the settlers complete their morning tours at the holy site. Later in the afternoon, the same gate is reopened for evening tours by settlers.

During the presence of settlers inside the Mosque compound, entry restrictions are imposed on Muslim worshipers at the entrances leading to the Mosque and their IDs are seized until they leave the holy place.

Israeli forces attack students with teargas in Hebron

Dozens of Palestinians students and citizens sustained suffocation today after Israeli forces fired gas canisters near a complex of schools in the south neighborhood of Hebron, south of the West Bank, according to local sources.


It said that dozens suffered from suffocation due to inhaling toxic gas fired at them by the Israeli soldiers.

Schools in the south neighborhood of Hebron are frequently targeted by Israeli soldiers and settlers.

The teargas attack was unjustified and caused many students and citizens in the area to suffer from inhaling fumes. 

Tunisian students express their solidarity with Palestinian people

Students from all Tunisian schools organized on Friday a stand in solidarity and support of the Palestinian struggle, and against Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State’s declaration that Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are legal.

The Tunis Afrique Presse said classes were suspended for 20 minutes from 10 am at the request of the General Federation of Secondary Education as a sign of solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Tunisian Minister of Education, Hatem Ben Salem, the president of the General Federations of Secondary and president of Primary Education at the Tunisian General Labour Union, all participated in chanting the Palestinian and Tunisian national anthems and raising the two flags, and then stood for a moment of silence for the lives of the Palestinians killed during the recent Israeli aggression on Gaza.

Ben Salem stressed that all of Tunisia’s sects stand today in honor of the struggle of the Palestinian people and their steadfastness in facing Israeli violations.

He called on the international community to intervene with full force to stop the Israeli violations against the Palestinian people, especially depriving Palestinian children of their right to education.


Ben Salem said that, although symbolic, this movement of solidarity with the Palestinian people in this "dark" period of its history, reiterates Tunisia's full and unwavering support for the Palestinian cause.

Israel downs drone near border fence in Gaza

The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Saturday evening shot down a small drone as it was flying near the border fence in the southern Gaza Strip.


According to Israeli news reports, the drone, which was not carrying any explosives or dangerous materials, was taken in for review after its remains were found on the Israeli side of the border.

Last month, the army shot down two drones in Gaza in separate incidents.

The incident followed a quiet weekend along the Gaza border, where for the second week running Friday protest marches were called off.

Israel bans 10 West Bank Palestinians from travel

Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) last week prevented 10 Palestinian citizens from travelling through Al-Karama crossing between the West Bank and Jordan.


According to a statement by the Palestinian police, over 35,000 passengers managed to pass through Al-Karama crossing in both directions last week.

Meanwhile, 10 Palestinians were banned from travel over "security" pretexts.

10 Palestinians injured in settler attacks in Hebron

Dozens of Israeli settlers on Friday night attacked Palestinian homes in different areas in Hebron, Occupied West Bank, injuring at least 10 Palestinian citizens.

Local sources said that two Palestinian citizens suffered bruises after Israeli settlers attacked them near Abu Al-Rish checkpoint in Hebron and were transferred to a nearby hospital for treatment.


In the southern areas of Hebron, 8 citizens were injured after Israeli settlers, escorted by armed soldiers, attacked them with batons and pepper gas.

According to local residents, five Palestinian youths were detained and harassed by the settlers in a shop in Al-Sahla area.

Late on Friday, hundreds of Israeli settlers coming from different settlements in the Occupied West Bank stormed Hebron City to perform Talmudic rituals at the Ibrahmi Mosque. Meanwhile, further restrictions were imposed on the Palestinian residents of the area.

After two months of hunger strike, two prisoners reported in a feeble health condition

Two months of hunger strike by two Palestinian prisoners in Israel has left them in poor health condition, today said the Palestinian Prisoners Commission.


Hassan Abed Rabbo, spokesman for the commission, said that Ahmad Zahran, 42, from Deir Abu Mishal near Ramallah, has been on hunger strike for 63 days, and Musab Hindi, 29, from Tel village in the north of the West Bank, for 61 days in protest against their administrative detention without charge or trial.


He said both prisoners feel very weak and exhaustion and refuse to take any supplements or undergo physical examination.

Abed Rabbo warned that the two may be in danger of losing their life after more than 60 days of hunger strike and due to lack of salt and fluids in their body.