West Bank Dispatch: Hunting down the resistance

Key Developments (June 13 -15)

• Israeli forces shot and killed two young Palestinian men in the Nablus area. On Tuesday, June 13, Israeli troops shot and killed 19-year-old Faris Hashash in the Balata refugee camp during an afternoon raid, reportedly in search of a wanted resistance fighter in the camp. At least eight Palestinians were injured with live ammunition during the raid, according to Palestinian medics, who added that Israeli forces prevented them from treating the wounded. The wanted fighter reportedly evaded capture, and Israeli forces retreated from the camp without making any arrests. 
• In the early morning of Thursday, June 15, Israeli forces shot and killed a young Palestinian man and injured over 300 others during a raid to demolish the home of Osama Tawil, who was arrested in February for his alleged involvement in the killing of an Israeli soldier. The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the young man killed during the raid as 20-year-old Khalil al-Anis. Citing the Palestinian Red Crescent, Middle East Eye reported that 337 Palestinians, including four children, were wounded by Israeli bullets and tear gas inhalation. Israel’s policy of punitive home demolitions has been widely condemned as a form of collective punishment, not only punishing the family of alleged attackers for crimes they did not commit but also for the negative impacts on the surrounding community, who often sustain injuries during raids or damage to the surrounding homes. 
• Israeli forces have been enforcing closures around the Jenin-area town of Yabad for two days, sparking clashes in the town and forcing 360 high school students in the area, who are currently taking their tawjihi or metric exams, to go to other towns to sit for their exams, Wafa News Agency reported. Arbitrary closures of Palestinian towns, villages, and cities are a common tactic of collective punishment used by the Israeli army, resulting in the disruption of everyday life and of people’s access to school, work, and hospitals. 
• Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian shepherds in Masafer Yatta, or the South Hebron Hills. According to Wafa, Israeli settlers from the nearby Carmel settlement reportedly assaulted the shepherds and “threatened to shoot them” if they did not leave the area. The shepherds were also reportedly told to “never come back”  if they do not leave the area and never to come back to it. Israeli settler attacks are common in Masafer Yatta, where the Israeli government is in the process of forcibly expelling the Palestinian community, under the pretext of the Palestinians’ living “illegally” in a firing zone. Palestinians in Masafer Yatta say the government’s plans are nothing more than attempts to ethnically cleanse them from their land, and eventually replace them with illegal Jewish settlers. 

Important Figures:

• At least 158 Palestinians have been killed so far in 2023 
• More than 4,200 Palestinians have been injured by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the start of the year
• The UN has documented over 300 settler attacks on Palestinians and their property