Key Developments (July 24 – July 27)
- On Tuesday, July 25, Israeli forces invaded Nablus and executed three Palestinian resistance fighters. The men were killed following armed confrontations with Israeli forces on Mount Gerizim, the mountain bordering the southern side of the valley containing the city of Nablus. The slain men were identified as Muntaser Bahjat Salamah, 33, Sa’d al-Kharraz, 43, and Noor al-Deen Arda, 32. According to eyewitnesses, the men stood together and faced off against the Israeli military forces with only three guns. The bodies of the three men were taken by the Israeli military and continue to be withheld by Israeli authorities, a common punitive practice that uses Palestinian bodies as bargaining chips. The next day, July 26, Israeli forces invaded Nablus again, shooting and killing one youth.
- On Thursday, July 27, Israeli forces shot and killed Faris Sharhabeel Abu Samra, 14, during a military invasion of the Naffar neighborhood in the northern West Bank city of Qalqilya.
- Between Monday and Thursday, Israeli settlers intensified attacks on Palestinian towns and villages in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, always with the protection of an Israeli army escort. On Wednesday, July 26, Israeli settlers joined with the army and invaded the al-Tireh neighborhood of the city of Ramallah, performing prayers on a neighboring hilltop to which settlers have routinely returned, including last year. As the settlers performed prayers in Palestinian neighborhoods, Israeli forces fired teargas at the Palestinian youth living in the area, who appeared to confront the invading force.
- On Tuesday, July 25, the Israeli Knesset also approved a second and third reading of an amendment to the Cooperative Societies Ordinance (No. 12), a bill sponsored by MKs Simcha Rothman (Religious Zionism), Sharren Miriam Haskel (National Unity Party) and Yitzhak Kroizer (Jewish Power Party) that aims to create criteria for excluding those deemed unsuitable to live in communities in the Galilee and the Naqab. The bill is a nakedly racist attempt to take over Palestinian land by excluding Palestinians from living in the Galilee and the Naqab based on preserving “social and cultural cohesion,” according to the bill’s wording — in other words, preserving Jewish purity and ethnic supremacy.
Important figures
- In 2023, Israeli forces and settlers have killed more than 195 Palestinians.
- In 2023, Israeli military courts have issued more than 1,608 administrative detention orders, which is the practice of imprisoning Palestinians without charge or trial, and based on “secret evidence” that is not required to be disclosed to the defendant or the defendant’s legal team. Currently, 1,132 Palestinians are being held in administrative detention, including 18 children and minors.
- With the killing of the three men on Tuesday, the number of Palestinian bodies being held by Israel has reached 136, including Khader Adnan, whose death while on hunger strike last May was the product of “willfull” and “deliberate” Israeli policies, including but not limited to deliberate medical negligence.
