787 assaults against Palestinian citizens during last October

 The Palestinian Labor and Planning Department in the Palestine Liberation Organization issued its monthly report addressing settler assaults, house demolitions, and facilities in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem. The highlights include: -

First: Settler Assaults

During the month of October, settler gangs carried out (787) assaults against Palestinian citizens and their properties, the highest number ever recorded in a single month. These systematic assaults indicate what the West Bank can expect in the coming months amid the growing influence of the far-right in controlling the Zionist state militarily and politically. This indicates that the West Bank is the core and focal point of the conflict between Palestinian rights and Zionist terrorism.

 These criminal assaults resulted in the martyrdom of young Jihad Muhammad Ajaj (26 years old) from the town of Deir Jarir, northeast of Ramallah and Al-Bireh, due to gunfire from settler gangs.

Meanwhile, (151) citizens were injured with various wounds as a result of assaults involving beatings, gunfire, stone-throwing, and gas spraying, including (14) women and (9) children.

The assaults included (36) shooting incidents, three hit-and-run incidents, while settler gangs destroyed (2210) fruitful olive trees and stole and killed (182) heads of livestock belonging to Palestinian farmers to pressure them and increase their costs of staying on the land. Additionally, (74) vehicles were damaged due to burning or stone-throwing, and settler gangs destroyed and burned (22) houses and agricultural, animal, and service facilities in villages and towns in the West Bank, concentrated in the governorates of Hebron, Jerusalem, Nablus, and Ramallah and Al-Bireh. In the context of pastoral settlement expansion, attempts were recorded last month to establish three settlement outposts in Kafr Qaddum in Qalqilya Governorate, Jabal Juha in Hebron city, and Al-Auja Spring in Jericho Governorate.

The criminal assaults were concentrated in Nablus Governorate (206 assaults), followed by Ramallah and Al-Bireh (192 assaults), Hebron (116 assaults), Salfit (59), Jerusalem (57 assaults), Tubas and the northern Jordan Valley (47 assaults), and Jericho, Bethlehem, and Qalqilya each with (25 assaults), Tulkarem (21 assaults), and Jenin (14 assaults).

Assaults escalated significantly in the past month in both quantity and quality due to the onset of the olive-picking season in the West Bank, as Palestinian families go out to their lands to harvest olives, a large portion of which is located in areas classified as "C." With the expansion of pastoral settlement outposts over the past two years, the area of friction and confrontation with settler gangs has expanded in areas that have seen settlers enter for the first time, some of which are classified as "B" areas. If the policy of establishing pastoral settlement outposts by extremist settlers continues, this indicates that the coming months and years will witness more confrontations, including material, human, and economic losses. These alarming figures signal a warning in the West Bank, and we must seek mechanisms for confrontation and resistance to stabilize citizens on their land and enhance their steadfastness.

Second: House and Facility Demolitions

During October, Israeli occupation authorities demolished (54) houses and facilities in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem, including (24) houses and (30) facilities, among which were (5) self-demolitions in the neighborhoods of Al-Issawiya, Silwan, Al-Tur, Al-Masara, and Qalandiya, carried out by their owners to avoid paying exorbitant fines. The demolition operations were concentrated in the governorates of Nablus, Hebron, Jerusalem, Ramallah and Al-Bireh, Salfit, Tubas, the northern Jordan Valley, Jericho, and Qalqilya.

As part of the policy of collective punishment, the Israeli occupation forces demolished two houses belonging to the families of martyrs and prisoners whom the occupation forces accuse of carrying out resistance operations in the West Bank, namely the house of prisoner Abdul Rahim Al-Haimoni in Hebron city and the house of prisoner Maher Samara from the town of Bruqin in Salfit Governorate.

Settler gangs continued to vandalize and destroy citizens' facilities in the villages and cities of the West Bank, where the department documented settlers burning and destroying (22) homes and service, agricultural, and animal facilities, including in the villages and towns of Hawara and Duma in Nablus Governorate, the Massafer Yatta gatherings and the town of Surif in Hebron Governorate, the town of Bruqin in Salfit Governorate, the village of Mukhmas in Jerusalem