Shooting:

During the reporting period, IOF killed two Palestinian children. One of the children was willfully killed in Jerusalem while the other, who is mentally diabled, was killed in the Gaza Strip due to the use of excessive lethal force. IOF also wounded 148 civilians, including 49 children and an international solidarity activist. Of the wounded, 144 ones were wounded when IOF used excessive force to disperse peaceful demonstrations commemorating the 63^rd anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, 3 civilians were wounded in peaceful protests against settlement activities and the construction of the annexation wall. A Palestinian child was also wounded by the explosion of a suspicious object left by IOF.  

In the West Bank, on 13 May 2011, IOF killed a Palestinian boy in cold blood in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan. The child was killed when a bullet was shot at him from the direction of two houses which were occupied earlier by Israeli settlers in the center  of Silwan. They boy was walking on a dirt road and was between 10 and 15 meters from the two houses when he was shot. It should be noted that members of a private security agency and members of the Israeli Border Guards provide protection to settlers who has seized  two houses.

In the Gaza Strip, on 15 May 2011, IOF used excessive lethal force to kill a mentally disabled Palestinian child near Nahal Oz border crossing, east of Gaza City.  The child was killed by a shell fired at him by IOF. Medical crews found the child's body nearly 300 meters to the west of Nahal Oz crossing. The body was taken to al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. According to statements given to a PCHR fieldworker by the forensic medicine department, the boy was hit by shrapnel from a shell to the chest and the head

On 15 May 2011, IOF used excessive force to disperse participants in peaceful demonstrations commemorating the 63^rd anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.  As a result, 144 Palestinian civilians, including 47 children, 5 women and 4 children, were wounded. In the Gaza Strip, 105 people were wounded, including 31 children, 3 women and 3 journalists. In the West Bank, 38 civilians were wounded, including 16 children, 2 women and a journalist.  PCHR strongly condemns the use of excessive force against peaceful demonstrations in the OPT and calls upon the international community to immediately take action to compel the Israeli government to stop its systematic crimes against Palestinian civilians.

IOF used excessive force to disperse peaceful demonstrations organized in protest to Israeli settlement activities and the construction of the annexation wall in the West Bank. As a result, three demonstrators, including a child and an international solidarity activist, were wounded. In addition, dozens of Palestinian civilians and international human rights defenders participating in peaceful protests in the West Bank suffered from tear gas inhalation and bruises as they were beaten by IOF.

On 13 May 2011, a Palestinian child was seriously wounded by the explosion of a suspicious object left by IOF in the Jordan Valley in the northeast of the West Bank.

Incursions:

During the reporting period, IOF conducted at least 20 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, during which they arrested 15 Palestinian civilians, including 3 children.

IOF have continued to attempt to crack down peaceful protests and to prevent international human rights defenders from participating in peaceful assemblies against settlement activities and the construction of the annexation wall. As part of these attempts, IOF arrested 4 protesters, including 2 Israeli solidarity activists, and took them to "Benjamin" police station in the southeast of Ramallah. The arrested persons were released latter. IOF also arrested 6 demonstrators in a peaceful demonstration that Palestinians organized near Qalandya checkpoint to commemorate the 63^rd anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba. 

Restrictions on Movement:

Israel has continued to impose a tightened siege on the OPT and has imposed severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem

Gaza Strip

Israel has continuously closed all border crossings of the Gaza Strip for over three years. The illegal Israeli-imposed closure of the Gaza Strip, which has been steadily tightened since June 2007, has had a disastrous impact on the humanitarian and economic situation in the Gaza Strip. 

• The cooking gas crisis which has erupted last November has continued to affect the Gaza Strip. This crisis was created when the Israeli occupation authorities totally closed, on 04 January 2010, Nahal Oz crossing, which used to be dedicated for the delivery of fuel and cooking gas supplies to Gaza, and shifted fuel and cooking gas supplies to Karm Abu Salem crossing which is not technically equipped to receive Gaza's needs of fuel.  Karm Abu Salem crossing, with its maximum absorptive capacity, can receive only 200 tons of cooking gas per day.

It should be noted that the Israeli occupation authorities have worked over the past three years to make Karm Abu Salem crossing, which is not appropriate for commercial purposes, as Gaza's major and sole crossing. 

In the beginning of 2010, the Israeli occupation authorities closed Nahal Oz crossing which was dedicated for the supplies of fuel and cooking gas to Gaza, and shifted fuel supplies to Karm Abu Salem crossing. They also totally closed Sofa crossing, southeast of Khan Yunis, and shifted humanitarian aid and food items which used to be delivered via Sofa crossing to Karm Abu Salem crossing. Lately, they exceptionally opened Sofa crossing for four consecutive days in the end of March 2011 and on 17 April 2011 to allow the delivery of construction aggregate for UNRWA.

• Approximately 80% of Gaza civilians have continued to depend on alimentary aid provided by UNRWA and other relief agencies, rates of families who live below poverty line have continued to be on the rise and approximately 40% of Gaza's manpower has continued to suffer from permanent unemployment as a result of shutting down the majority of Gaza's economic establishments.
• IOF have continued to impose a total ban on the exportation of Gaza's products, especially industrial products, leading to undermining any real chances to rerun economic establishments. Facts on the ground refute IOF's allegation that they daily allow the export of 10 truckloads of agricultural products.
• Recently, IOF allowed the exportation of very limited quantities of Gaza's agricultural products, including flowers and tomatoes, to European markers.
• For approximately four consecutive years, IOF have continued to ban the delivery of construction materials to Gaza. During the reporting period, IOF approved the delivery of limited quantities of construction materials for a number of international organizations.
• Israel has continued to close Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing for Palestinian civilians from the Gaza Strip. IOF only allow the movement of limited groups amidst severe restrictions, including long hours of waiting in the majority of cases. IOF have also continued to adopt a policy aimed at reducing the number of Palestinian patients allowed to move via Beit Hanoun crossing to receive medical treatment in hospitals in Israel or in the West Bank and Jerusalem. IOF have denied new categories of Gazan patient permission to have access to hospitals via the crossing.
• Israel has imposed additional access restrictions on international diplomats, journalists and humanitarian workers seeking to enter the Gaza Strip.
• For approximately 46 months, IOF have continued to deny approximately 710 Palestinian prisoners from Gaza detained in Israeli jails their visitation rights without providing any justification to this measure, which violates the rules of the international humanitarian law.

West Bank

IOF have continued to impose severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians throughout the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Thousands of Palestinian civilians from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip continue to be denied access to Jerusalem.

• IOF have established checkpoints in and around Jerusalem, severely restricting Palestinian access to the city. Civilians are frequently prevented from praying in the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
• There are approximately 585 permanent roadblocks, and manned and unmanned checkpoints across the West Bank.
• When complete, the illegal annexation wall will stretch for 724 kilometers around the West Bank, further isolating the entire population. 350 kilometers of the wall have already been constructed. Approximately 99% of the wall has been constructed inside the West Bank itself, confiscating more Palestinian land
• At least 65% of the main roads that lead to 18 Palestinian communities in the West Bank are closed or fully controlled by IOF.
• There are approximately 500 kilometers of restricted roads across the West Bank. In addition, approximately one third of the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, is inaccessible to Palestinians without permits issued by IOF. Such permits are extremely difficult to obtain.
• IOF continue to harass and assault demonstrators who hold peaceful protests against the construction of the annexation wall.
• Palestinian civilians continue to be harassed by IOF in Jerusalem, and across the West Bank, including being regularly stopped and searched in the streets by IOF.

Israeli Settlers' Attacks on Palestinian Civilians and Property:

Israeli settlers living in the OPT in violation of the international humanitarian law have continued to commit systematic crimes against Palestinian civilians and Palestinian property with protection provided by IOF who ignore conducting investigations into complaints submitted by Palestinian civilians against settlers

On 14 May 2011, a number of settlers from "Gilad" settlement attacked three Palestinian farmers from Jeet village, northeast of Qaqilya. The Palestinians were attacked while they were going to their work. The attack took place before the eyes of IOF.

On 15 May 2011, a group of Israeli settlers from "Kirat Arba" settlement, southeast of Hebron, attacked a house belonging to the Abu Se'ifan family in Wadi al-Hussain neighborhood which is adjacent to "Kriat Arba" settlement. The settlers tried to set the house alight and put the residents' lives at risk. It should be noted that the attacked house and other houses belonging to the Abu Se'ifan family are only few steps from the high wall of "Kriat Arba" settlement. These houses and their residents have been repeatedly attacked by settlers. Some of the Abu Se'ifan family's members were wounded as a result and damages were inflicted on their property.

On 17 May 2011, a number of Israeli settlers raided the Orphanage School in occupied East Jerusalem.  The settlers attacked the students in classrooms. Later, the Israeli police raided the school and arrested the headmaster, Ibrahim Shawar, and the deputy headmaster, Isam al-Tawil, for investigations.