Details- Arrests, assault and beating in the Batn Al-Hawa neighborhood in Silwan
June 13, 2022

Violent clashes erupted late on Monday evening in the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood in Silwan, following attacks carried out by the occupation forces and settlers in the neighborhood.

The Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Jerusalem stated that dozens of residents of the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood suffered from suffocation, after targeting residential buildings, neighborhood alleys and entrances to homes with gas bombs, and spraying gas at young men and boys while they were in front of their homes.

Zuhair Al-Rajabi, head of the Batn Al-Hawa neighborhood committee, explained to the center that joint attacks were carried out by settlers and the occupation forces against the people and their properties in the neighborhood. The settlers threw stones and wood from the settlement outposts at the youths and the people's vehicles, while the forces deployed in the neighborhood and its entrances threw gas bombs randomly and directly at the houses, in addition to sound bombs and rubber bullets.

Al-Rajabi added that the forces assaulted a young man at the entrance to the neighborhood and arrested him, then the police vehicle stormed the neighborhood street and stopped, causing a traffic jam, during which its members attacked one of the young men while he was driving his vehicle by beating and arresting him only because he demanded passage.

Al-Rajabi explained that while the residents of the neighborhood gathered in the area, the forces assaulted them by beating, pushing, bombs and poison gas.

Al-Rajabi explained that the people of the Batn Al-Hawa neighborhood suffered from suffocation, including children and youths with special needs.

The elderly Um Muhammad Shyoukhi and her family members, most of whom were children, suffocated, and said: "We were sitting inside the house and there were 5 children - the oldest of whom was 5 years and the youngest one year –and they suffered from suffocation, shortness of breath and severe eye pain, as the forces targeted homes extensively."

One of the residents said: "When I returned to my house and while I was walking with my wife, we suffocated, the forces are present in large numbers inside the neighborhood and the smell of gas covers the neighborhood."

Residents’ vehicles were also damaged by settlers’ stones and the bombs of the occupation forces. Jadallah Al-Rajabi, a member of the Batn Al-Hawa neighborhood committee, explained to the center that more than 10 vehicles were damaged, “glasses, mirrors, car body vandalism, lights,” noting that the forces deliberately hit the vehicles, whether with rifle butts or their feet, in addition to directing bombs and rubber bullets at them."

The forces arrested Wissam Da’na and Rami Jamjoom, and severely beat them.

Yazan Al-Rajabi sustained fractures in his fingers, after the forces beat him.