February 3, 2022 – As human rights organizations based in Israel, striving to protect and defend the rights of all people in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, we are writing to express our grave concern about the vicious attacks on Amnesty International, following the publication of its report Israel’s Apartheid against Palestinians: Cruel System of […]
B'Tselem
Court sanctioned war crime committed in broad daylight
Israel committed an attempted forcible transfer – a war crime – against residents of Humsah. In a break from the previous five demolitions in the community within less than a year, yesterday, Israeli soldiers and Civil Administration staff removed the contents of some residents’ homes and transported the items to an area located near ‘Ein Shibli, […]
Killing blockaded civilians and destroying infrastructure on a massive scale: Israel is committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, from the beginning of Israel’s attack on Gaza on 10 May 2021 until midday on 15 May 2021, 139 Palestinians – including 39 minors and 22 women – were killed in the Gaza Strip, and about 1,000 more were injured. In some cases, entire families were wiped out […]
B’tselem: The current violence throughout Israel/Palestine is an outcome of the apartheid regime that controls the entire area
May 14, 2021 – The current violence throughout Israel/Palestine is an outcome of the apartheid regime that controls the entire area. Under this regime, about half of the people who live between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea – Jews – are able to lead full lives and enjoy protection of their human rights, […]
This is apartheid: Israeli regime promotes and perpetuates Jewish supremacy between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River
More than 14 million people, roughly half of them Jews and the other half Palestinians, live between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea under a single rule. The common perception in public, political, legal and media discourse is that two separate regimes operate side by side in this area, separated by the Green Line. […]
In a pandemic, of all times: Number of Palestinians Israel has left homeless hits four-year record (VIDEO)
November 9, 2020 – In the midst of an unprecedented health and economic crisis, more Palestinians in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) lost their homes in the first 10 months of 2020 alone than in any full year since 2016 – the highest year on record since B’Tselem started collecting this data. As a […]
Human rights organizations to Israeli government: Lift movement restrictions against Amnesty Intl. employee
May 26, 2020 – Today, 15 organizations publish a joint statement calling to lift movement restrictions against Amnesty International employee: “We stand in solidarity with our colleague from Amnesty International, Laith Abu Zeyad, and demand that Israel lift the movement restrictions barring him from leaving the Occupied Territories. His petition against the restrictions imposed upon him will be heard on 31 May 2020. Targeting Abu Zeyad is yet another example of Israel’s […]
Report reveals chronology of Israeli landgrab, abuse and violence in Palestinian neighborhood of al-‘Esawiyah
May 19, 2020 – As Israel prepares to mark Jerusalem Day this Thursday (May 21), B’Tselem is releasing a new report describing life in the Palestinian neighborhood of al-‘Esawiyah 53 years after East Jerusalem was annexed to Israel. Over the past year, al-‘Esawiyah has become a flashpoint because of a police operation designed primarily to […]
Israeli-made nightmare scenario: COVID-19 in Gaza
March 23, 2020 – The spread of COVID-19 in the Gaza Strip will be a massive disaster, resulting entirely from the unique conditions created by more than a decade of Israeli blockade: a failing healthcare system, extreme poverty, dependence on humanitarian aid, dysfunctional infrastructure and harsh living conditions that compromise public health – even before […]
B'Tselem on President Trump's "peace" plan: not peace, Apartheid
January 28, 2020 – The American administration’s plan branded as the “Deal of the Century” is more like Swiss cheese, with the cheese being offered to the Israelis and the holes to the Palestinians. There are many ways to end the occupation, but the only legitimate options are those based on equality and human rights […]
Year in review: Israeli forces killed 133 Palestinians, 28 of them minors
January 6, 2020 – In 2019, Israeli security forces killed 133 Palestinians, including 28 minors. Of the casualties, 104 were killed in the Gaza Strip, 26 in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and three within Israel. Most of these deaths were a direct outcome of Israel’s reckless open-fire policy, authorized by the government and […]
Israel: Settlers torch fields in Burin and ‘Asirah al-Qibliyah (VIDEO)
May 22, 2019 – On Friday, 17 May 2019, settlers torched unfarmed fields in Burin and ‘Asirah al-Qibliyah. In both villages the settlers threw stones at the residents’ homes. In ‘Asirah al-Qibliyah, where the area is controlled by military watchtowers, a settler even fired shots in the air. Soldiers nearby did not arrest the attackers […]
B’Tselem: Israeli “investigations” into 2018 Gaza protests a whitewashing mechanism to allow further killing
March 18, 2019 – Ahead of the UN Security Council meeting today (Monday, 18 March 2019) on the findings of the UN commission of inquiry into the 2018 Gaza protests, B’Tselem has issued a position paper explaining that Israel’s promise to “investigate” 11 incidents in which protesters were killed is mere propaganda. In a letter, B’Tselem’s director, Hagai El-Ad called upon the head of […]
Israeli security forces killed 290 Palestinians in 2018; most were victims of a reckless open-fire policy
Jan. 17, 2019 – In 2018, Israeli security forces killed 290 Palestinians, including 55 minors. Of the casualties, 254 were killed in the Gaza Strip, 34 in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and two within Israel. These incidents are a direct result of Israel’s reckless open-fire policy, authorized by the government and the top […]
B’Tselem: Gaza not “combat zone” – shooting at demonstrators a crime
March 29, 2018 – Ahead of the Palestinian demonstrations planned to start tomorrow (Friday) in Gaza, Israeli officials have repeatedly threatened to respond with lethal force. Completely ignoring the humanitarian disaster in Gaza and Israel’s responsibility for it, they are couching the planned protest in terms of a security risk, framing the demonstrators as terrorists […]
Minors in Jeopardy: Violation of the Rights of Palestinian Minors by Israel’s Military Courts
March 23, 2018 – B’Tselem published a new report – Minors in Jeopardy: Violation of the Rights of Palestinian Minors by Israel’s Military Courts – which analyzes the changes that Israel said it made in the last decade, purportedly to improve the treatment of Palestinian minors in military courts in the West Bank. The report […]
Over 7,000 people collectively punished in Israel
Jan. 24, 2018 – For more than a week, the Israeli military has been severely restricting access into and out of the Palestinian village of Hizma in the West Bank, apparently in response to stone-throwing along a nearby road. Soldiers have been deployed at all entrances to the village, and physical roadblocks have been put […]
B’Tselem to Netanyahu: Demolishing Palestinian communities – a war crime for which you would bear personal liability
Sept. 5, 2017 – Yesterday, 4 September 2017, B’Tselem sent a grave letter to Israel’s prime minister, the defense minister, the chief of staff and the head of the Civil Administration, cautioning that demolition of the Palestinian communities of Susiya and Khan al-Ahmar as planned would constitute a war crime for which they would bear personal liability. B’Tselem made […]
From trigger-happy to shoot-to-kill:Israeli security forces killed 101 Palestinians in 2016
April 20, 2017 – In 2016, Israeli security forces killed 101 Palestinians, including 31 minors. Ninety of the casualties were killed in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), eight in the Gaza Strip, and three in Israel. Among the casualties were ten women and one female minor. Seventy-five of the casualties (74%) were killed in […]
Israel: Soldiers drag 8-year-old from house to house in Hebron for over an hour, in search of stone-throwers (VIDEO)
March 24, 2017 – On 19 March 2017, around midday, eight-year-old Sufian Abu Hitah was wandering barefoot outside his house in Hebron looking for a toy he had lost, when a group of at least 15 soldiers seized him. Two soldiers grabbed the boy by the arms and dragged him to the al-Harika neighborhood, where […]