February 2024 in the city of Jerusalem
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Jerusalem issued its monthly report for February 2024, during which it monitored the violations in the city of Jerusalem; where the siege of Al-Aqsa continues, and the restrictions imposed on worshipers entering it continued as well, while thousands of settlers carried out their incursions into Al-Aqsa, and the arrest campaigns and demolition operations, and the issuance of deportation orders, also continued.
Palestinian martyrs
The occupation authorities continued to shoot at the Palestinians, under the pretext of carrying out/or attempting to carry out operations:
5/2/2024: The 13-year-old child Wadi’ Shadi Alayan, from the village of Jabal al-Mukabber, was shot by the Israeli police after he was stopped at the entrance to the town of Al-Eizariya "the entrance to the Ma'ali Adomim settlement" east of Jerusalem, on the pretext of "attempting to carry out a stabbing operation after he was stopped for searching”.
12/2/2024: The 15-year-old boy Mohammad Tariq Abu Sneineh, from the village of Al-Eizariya, died hours after being shot by the Israeli forces on Al-Wad Street in the Old City of Jerusalem, under the pretext of attempting to "carry out a stabbing operation".
16/2/2024: Fadi Ahmed Jamjoum was martyred after carrying out a shooting operation in the "Kiryat Malachi" area near Ashkelon, which led to the death of two Israelis and the wounding of others.
22/2/2024: Mohammad Issa Zawahreh and Ahmed Al-Wahsh were martyred, and Kazem Zawahreh was injured after they carried out a shooting operation near the Al-Z’ayem checkpoint in East Jerusalem; they are from the city of Bethlehem.
Detaining martyrs’ bodies
Detaining martyrs’ bodies
The Israeli authorities continue the policy of "detaining the bodies of the martyrs in the refrigerators", and the Wadi Hilweh Information Center explained that 23 Jerusalemite martyrs are detained in the refrigerators. They are:
1. Martyr Mesbah Abu Sbeih; since October 2016
2. Martyr Fadi Al-Qunbar; since January 2017
3. Martyr Aziz Aweisat; since May 2018
4. Martyr Shaher Abu Khadija; since May 2021
5. Martyr Zuhdi Al-Taweel; since May 2021
6. Martyr Fadi Abu Shkheidem; since November 2021
7. Martyr Karim Jamal Al-Qawasmi; since March 2022
8. Martyr Uday Al-Tamimi; since October 2022
9. Martyr Amer Halabiya; since November 2022
10. Martyr Khairy Alqam; since January 2023
11. Martyr Hussein Qaraqe; since February 2023
12. Martyr Ishaq Al-Ajlouni; since June 2023
13. Martyr Khaled Al-Za’anin; since August 2023
14. Martyr Ali Al-Abbasi; since October 2023
15. Martyr Abdel Rahman Faraj; since October 2023
16. Martyr Khaled Al-Muhtaseb; since October 2023
17. Martyr Adam Abulhawa; since October 2023
18. Martyr Mohammad Omar Al-Farroukh (minor); since November 2023
19. Martyr Murad Nimer; since November 2023
20. Martyr Ibrahim Nimer; since November 2023
21. Martyr Ahmad Alayan; since December 2023
22. Martyr Wadi’ Alayan; since February 2024
23. Martyr Fadi Jamjoum; since February 2024
Al-Aqsa Mosque... siege, restrictions and settlers’ incursions
The occupation government held a deliberation session chaired by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and with the participation of the Minister of National Security, to discuss access to Al-Aqsa during the month of Ramadan, and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu accepted the recommendation of the police and Minister Ben Gavir, restricting the entry of Palestinians from the Palestinian 1948 lands and occupied Jerusalem, to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in addition to preventing the entry of the people of the West Bank.
At the end of the month of February, the Israeli "War Cabinet" decided to withdraw security powers over the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the Minister of National Security Ben Gavir, and not to impose special restrictions on the entry of Palestinians from Jerusalem and the 1948 lands to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque during the month of Ramadan, while the cabinet said that the police would determine the number of worshippers, and imposed restrictions on the entry of individuals according to the "Intelligence" information.
For the fourth month in a row, the occupation authorities continue to impose their restrictions on the entry of Muslims into Al-Aqsa Mosque, and to place iron barriers on all of its gates, in addition to stopping all those arriving to Al-Aqsa, checking their identity cards, and search them, as well as bags and belongings, and randomly preventing people from entering Al-Aqsa, especially young men and women, while those allowed to enter are required to hand over their IDs at the gates.
Over the course of Fridays during last February, the occupation authorities restricted entry to Al-Aqsa, and placed barriers at its gates and the gates of the Old City and close neighborhoods, assaulted the worshipers by beating, shoving, and arresting them, and prayers were held in the streets of Jerusalem and at the thresholds of Al-Aqsa, despite attempts to prevent them.
The occupation authorities also continue to impose restrictions on the number of participants allowed to participate in the "funerals - escorting the body and carrying it and praying over it" inside Al-Aqsa, limiting the number of people allowed to enter to a maximum of 10 people.
During the past month, the settlers' incursions into the mosque continued, during the daily morning and afternoon break-ins, except on Fridays and Saturdays, through the Dung gate, the keys of which have been controlled by the occupation authorities since the occupation of Jerusalem, and more than 2,600 settlers carried out their incursions into Al-Aqsa during the month of February, and performed prayers especially for the Israeli prisoners and the dead soldiers.
The settlers also organized a march "on the eve of the beginning of the Hebrew month", in the city of Jerusalem and at the Al-Aqsa gates all the way to Al-Buraq square, and they raised flags and held prayers and dances during the march, and the forces closed some roads and streets until the end of the march.
Attack on a Christian cleric
Settlers attacked the clergyman Father "Nikodemos Schnabel", the head of the Benedictine monks in the Holy Land, by spitting on him and insulting Jesus, peace be upon him, during his walk in the "Mount Zion" area in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Continuous arrests
The Israeli authorities continued their arrest campaigns in the city of Jerusalem, and the Wadi Hilweh Information Center monitored 251 cases of arrests from the city of Jerusalem, including children, girls, women, and adults, in addition to the arrest of dozens of young men from the West Bank under the pretext of "illegal presence in the city of Jerusalem."
The center explained that the occupation authorities continued the policy of "arresting or summoning the freed prisoners as soon as they are released", and imposed on them several conditions, the most prominent of which, not to "hold any gathering, raise flags and banners, and set off firecrackers."
The judicial adviser in the occupation government approved the withdrawal of the identity card (residency) of the Jerusalemite prisoner Majid Al-Jo’beh.
The occupation authorities also renewed the administrative detention of a number of Jerusalemite prisoners.
Confiscation of a land
Last February, the Israeli occupation authorities seized the land "Al-Khandaq/Friday market" located along the northeastern side of the Jerusalem Wall, and began digging and shoveling the land, in preparation for the construction of a "garden", as part of the "Gardens around the Old City Wall" project.
The ownership of the land, which has an area of 1200 square meters, belongs to the families of "Oweis, Hamad, and Atallah", and the "District Court" rejected the request for a "temporary work ban" that was demanded by the owners, despite the fact that there was a request for a "permanent work ban on the land" that was not decided on, in addition to a case in the Supreme Court about the confiscation of the land which had a hearing set for next April.
The land, known as "Souq al-Jum’a”, which has belonged to the families of "Oweis, Hamad, and Atallah” since the Ottoman era, is located between the wall of the Old City and the Yusufiya cemetery - the road leading to Lions Gate, and had several uses over the past years, and for planting seeds and during the Jordan municipality was used as a market for cattle, and an area for the distribution of food for the refugees through the relief agency. After the occupation of the city of Jerusalem, the municipality continued to use the land as a market for cattle, then for the last 15 years it was used as a landfill until 2018, where the municipality canceled its relationship as tenants and removed the landfill and left the land, and at that time the municipality said that the land belonged to the state, and not private property. Since then, the families have been fighting in the courts to protect the land, and another session will be held in the Supreme Court next April in a second case, in regards to the "confiscation of the land".
In the town of Silwan, south of Al-Aqsa, the "Ateerat Cohanim association” took over two and a half dunoms of land in the Bain al-Hawa neighborhood, owned by the Rajabi, Abu Diab, and Silwadi families, and forced the families to evacuate their vehicles and contents from the land, and demolished "fences, roofed parking lots, and stone-chains" in the lands. The forces also closed the perimeter of some houses with reinforced sheet metal and iron wires, and the entrances to the "Hosh Al-Rajabi", and kept only one entrance for access.
The "Ateerat Cohanim association" claims ownership of the land under the pretext that it is a "Jewish property", while the Jerusalemite families have all the papers and documents that confirm their ownership for tens or hundreds of years.
Incitement against the "UNRWA"
During the month of February, the settlers incited against the " United Nations Relief and Works Agency/UNRWA", and called for the closure of its headquarters, the evacuation of its headquarters, and the cessation of its activities. The settlers also held a stand in front of the agency's headquarters in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, demanding its closure under the slogan "Jerusalem will not be Gaza."
Demolition and displacement
The occupation municipality continued to carry out the demolition operations or to force Jerusalemites to demolish their houses themselves, under the pretext of building without a license, and the Information Center monitored 12 demolition operations in the city of Jerusalem during the month of February, including "an under-construction building with 8 floors, and another building with 5 apartments", in addition to 5 apartments, and commercial facilities, and the demolition operations were carried out in: Silwan, Jabal Al-Mukabber, and Beit Hanina."
The information center added that the Israeli authorities closed the house of the martyr Fadi Jamjoum in Shu’fat refugee camp, and prevented the family from using it.
The "Commander of the Internal Front Command" also signed an order to confiscate and demolish the house of the Jerusalem martyr Khaled al-Muhtaseb, in Beit Hanina, north of Jerusalem, and the martyr carried out a shooting operation at the Salah A;-Din Street police station in Jerusalem last October, and his body has been detained since.
Deportation
The Israeli occupation authorities continued to issue deportation orders, and the information center monitored 42 deportation orders during the month of February, including "deportation from Jerusalem, the Old City, Al-Aqsa, streets in Jerusalem, places of residence, and prohibition of entry to the West Bank."
The center explained that the occupation authorities renewed the "decision to prevent entry into the West Bank" to the governor of Jerusalem Adnan Ghaith for the fifth year in a row, and to the head of the Fatah movement in Jerusalem Shadi Mtour for the fifth year in a row.
