Israel has demolished 465 buildings and displaced 676 Palestinians in 2012

A UN report has noted that since the beginning of 2012 the Israeli occupation forces have demolished 465 Palestinian-owned structures in the West Bank, displacing 676 Palestinians in the process. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Jerusalem stated that the average rate of Palestinians displaced is now 18 per week.

“Israeli forces delivered a renewed military order extending the requisition of 647 dunums of land [around 160 acres] belonging to the villages of ‘Awarta and Burin (Nablus),” the report adds. The land is near an Israeli military training area. In addition, the army has stopped work on 16 buildings in Khirbet Yarza village as it is in a “closed military zone” near Jenin. Since 1967, the Israeli Army has declared around 18 per cent of the occupied West Bank to be “closed military zones for training” or “firing zones”.

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OCHA said that 2,168 Palestinians have been injured as a result of attacks by the so-called Israel Defence Forces during demonstrations against the brutality of the occupation, house demolitions and night time searches across the West Bank.

In the Gaza Strip, “Israeli restrictions on Palestinian access to areas along the fence separating Israel and the Gaza Strip as well as to fishing zones beyond three nautical miles from the Gaza Strip shore continued.” Israeli forces arrested five Palestinians, including three children, allegedly for attempting to infiltrate into Israel. The Israeli navy, meanwhile, has opened fire on Palestinian fishing boats on numerous occasions, forcing them to return to port.

The report also mentions that Palestinian factions fired a number of projectiles into “1948” Israeli-occupied territory.

Commenting on the effects of the blockade of Gaza, the OCHA report states that around 400,000 litres of fuel are entering Gaza each day through the tunnels. “The Gaza Strip needs a total of 800,000 to one million litres daily,” it said.