LPHR Child Rights Bulletin for the period 1 March – 31 May 2021

[PDF version is available here]

Below are the names and ages of the 76 children killed during the reporting period, 67 of them in Gaza. Six children died in the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem. Three children (two Palestinian-Israeli children and one Israeli child) died in Israel. The names and ages of these children are collated from the New York Times (NYT) Defence for Children International-Palestine (DCIP) and Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights.

Of the abovementioned children, UN OCHA reports that at least 62 appear to have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza during the period 10-21 May 2021. This number includes many children killed inside their homes. Examples of incidents in which children were killed by Israeli attacks on their homes include:

• DCIP reports that two-year-old Mariam Mohammad Odeh Talbani was killed after a missile fired by an Israeli warplane struck the third floor of the Salha residential building in Gaza City’s Tal Al-Hawa neighborhood around 01:30 on 12 May. The attack also killed Mariam’s four-year-old brother, Zaid Mohammad Odeh Talbani and her mother, Rima, who was five months pregnant. 13-year-old Hala Hussein Rafat Rifi was also killed in the attack.

• DCIP reports that two-year-old Nagham Iyad Abdulfattah Salha and her parents were killed when an aerial attack by Israel’s forces struck the second-floor apartment where they lived on 19 May. Nagham’s father, Iyad, was disabled and required a wheelchair, and her mother, Imhawish, was eight months pregnant.

• DCIP reports that two children died after an Israel’s forces fired two missiles at a two-storey home in Gaza City’s Al-Manara neighbourhood around, completely destroying the residential building on 11 May. 15-year-old Lina Iyad Fathi Sharir and her parents died in the attack. Two-year-old Mina Iyad Fathi Sharir later died of her wounds.

At least two children in Gaza appear to have been killed when rockets fired towards Israel by a Palestinian armed group landed short. DCIP’s initial investigation suggests a homemade rocket landed in Saleh Dardouna Street near Al-Omari Mosque in Jabalia, North Gaza, resulting in the deaths of 16-year-old Mustafa Mohammad Mahmoud Obaid and five-year-old Baraa Wisam Ahmad al-Gharabli on 10 May.

Rockets fired by Palestinian armed groups killed two children in Israel. The fatalities: 5-year-old Israeli child Ido Avigal and 16-year-old Palestinian-Israeli child Nadine Awad.

Six Palestinian children were killed by Israel’s forces forces in the West Bank during the reporting period, five of them shot by live ammunition. Incidents include:

• DCIP reports that Israeli forces shot and killed 16-year-old Said Yousef Mohammad Odeh on 5 May. Said was shot with live ammunition in the back near his shoulder and pelvis, as he approached the entrance to his village. Israeli forces reportedly confronted Palestinian youth at the village entrance prior to the shooting. Said was not involved in the confrontations at the time he was shot.

• DCIP reports that 14-year-old Mohammad Khalil Younis Mohammad Freijat succumbed to his wounds days after Israeli forces shot him in the head with live ammunition in the southern occupied West Bank on 12 May.

• DCIP reports that 16-year-old Rashid Mohammad Rashid Abu Arra was shot dead by Israeli forces with live ammunition on 12 May in the village of Aqaba. He was shot from behind; sustaining two gunshot wounds to the upper and middle back. The killing occurred as Israeli forces entered the village during the early morning to conduct search and arrest operations. Rashid and a few others reportedly threw stones at the back of the military vehicles. Israeli forces in one vehicle began driving in reverse. Israeli forces opened the vehicle’s rear door and fired three live bullets at the group as Rashid and the others turned and attempted to flee.

• DCIP reports that 17-year-old Obaida Akram Abdurahman Jawabra was shot dead by Israeli forces with live ammunition on 17 May in Al-Arroub refugee camp (near Hebron). Obaida sustained a gunshot wound to his chest during a demonstration at the entrance of the refugee camp. An Israeli soldier deployed about 230 feet away fired the fatal shot, according to eyewitnesses interviewed by DCIP.

• DCIP reports that 16-year-old Islam Wael Fahmi Dar Nasser was struck in the head with Israeli-fired live ammunition in the village of Bil’in on 18 May. He was shot during a demonstration as Israeli forces confronted Palestinian protestors in the village near Israel’s separation barrier.

• DCIP reports that on 24 May, 17-year-old Zuhdi Muhannad Zuhdi al-Tawil was shot and killed by Israeli an Israeli police officer. Zuhdi allegedly stabbed an Israeli settler and an Israeli soldier in East Jerusalem. He was reportedly shot while running away from Israeli forces.

Additionally, unconfirmed media reports indicate that Muhammad Youssuf Kiwan, a Palestinian-Israeli 17-year-old, died on 19 May after being shot in the head by Israeli police.

The deaths of the above-named children, including multiple children from the same households in Gaza, occurred in the context of ongoing violence which is not new: thousands of Palestinian children have died as a result of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza. Children face the threat of death and injury every day that Israel’s military occupation continues.

Article 6(1) of the UNCRC provides that every child has the inherent right to life. In addition, under international law, lethal application of force can only be used as a last resort when there is a direct and imminent threat to life or serious injury. Israeli forces consistently apply lethal application of force where there is no evidence to suggest any direct and imminent threat to life. Violations of this legal requirement should entail individual criminal responsibility.

It is especially concerning that targeted military attacks against family homes resulting in civilian casualties have resumed, given the clear evidence of severe harm to civilians that attacks on homes cause. Widespread military attacks on family homes was a key feature of Israel’s use of force on Gaza in 2014, during which 1,066 people, including 370 children, were killed inside their homes. The subsequent UN Commission of Inquiry fully examined the military targeting of family homes by Israel’s forces, and found that serious violations of international humanitarian law and international criminal law may have been committed; including by “decision-makers at the highest level of the Government of Israel”. It conformed with LPHR’s thorough analysis that there is a very credible case that the widespread targeting of family homes in Gaza may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Part of providing meaningful protection under the UNCRC involves review of and accountability for child deaths. To fulfil its obligations under international law, it is necessary that the Government of Israel thoroughly and transparently investigate the circumstances of the above-mentioned child fatalities and ensure legal accountability and justice is delivered where there is criminal wrongdoing.

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The key incidents and statistics outlined in the remainder of this bulletin span a range of violation categories: ‘Injuries’, ‘Settler Violence’, ‘Arrests and Detention’, ‘Interference against Education’, ‘Displacement and Demolitions’. They are collated from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) and local human rights organisations: Defence for Children International-Palestine (DCIP), Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights, Military Court Watch and B’Tselem.

This bulletin outlines the specific rights of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) that apply to the key incidents affecting Palestinian children in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). As the occupying power, Israel has legal responsibilities under international conventions, including the UNCRC, for the safety, welfare and human rights protection of civilians living in the oPt.

LPHR gives special thanks to Elena Christaki-Hedrick of LPHR’s Student Network for her excellent work preparing this bulletin.

INJURIES

UN OCHA records that more than 600 children were injured in Gaza. In the West Bank, at least 164 Palestinian children were injured (at least 152 of them by Israeli forces) during the period 1 March – 31 May 2021 according to data collected by UN OCHA.

Injury incidents from the period 1 March – 31 May 2021:

• UN OCHA reports that during the period 2 March – 15 March 2021, 62 Palestinians, including nine children, were injured by Israeli forces during clashes across the West Bank. Overall, 35 Palestinians were treated for tear gas inhalation, nine were shot by live bullets, 12 by rubber bullets, and six were physically assaulted.

• UN OCHA reports that during the period 30 March – 12 April, two boys aged 13 were injured in two separate incidents in Hebron city. One boy lost an eye from a rubber bullet during clashes, in which he was not involved.

• B’Tselem reports that on 2 April, an Israeli border police officer pepper sprayed a 13-year-old in the face and eyes, without any apparent justification. The boy had reportedly been requesting assistance from the police officer at the time of the act of violence. B’Tselem reports that this incident is part of a routine in which Palestinians in the West Bank suffer daily violence by Israeli security forces, including physical assaults, threats, verbal abuse and humiliation.

• Al Mezan reports that in Gaza on 10 May at 18:10, a shell hit a house on Al-Masriyeen Street in the east of Beit Hanoun City, injured 18 people, including 10 children.

• Al Mezan reports that at 01:30 on 13 May in Gaza, Israel’s air forces fired 20 missiles at eight residential buildings, home to 15 families, on the main street in the middle of Beit Lahia City, injuring 33 people, including eight women and 10 children.

Article 3(2) of the UNCRC provides that states shall ensure children the protection and care necessary for their wellbeing. Article 3(2) should be read with Article 3(1), which provides that “in taking appropriate legislative and administrative measures States Parties must place the best interests of the child as a primary consideration”. LPHR is deeply concerned by the hundreds of injuries sustained by children during Israel’s attacks on Gaza. It is clear that Israel is in breach of Article 3(2).

SETTLER VIOLENCE

Data collected by UN OCHA records that at least 7 Palestinian children were injured by Israeli settlers during the reporting period.

Settler-related injury incidents between 1 March – 31 May include:

• UN OCHA reports that in the period 2 March – 15 March, two boys aged 13 and 14 were injured in Hebron by perpetrators believed to be Israeli settlers.

• UN OCHA reports that during the period 30 March-12 April, perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured seven Palestinians, including two boys, and damaged Palestinian-owned trees. The boys were physically assaulted in two separate incidents in the H2 area of Hebron.

Article 3(2) of the UNCRC provides that states should ensure the protection and care of children, as is necessary for their wellbeing. The Israeli human rights organisation Yesh Din reports that incidents of violence by Israeli civilians against Palestinians and their property are a daily occurrence throughout the West Bank and that these incidents are rarely investigated properly by Israeli law enforcement. Only 3% of investigations into complaints filed by Palestinians injured by settlers lead to convictions.

The low rate of investigations into attacks by Israeli settlers suggests that Israel is in violation of its obligations under Article 39 of the UNCRC, which stipulates that states should take all appropriate measures to promote the physical and psychological recovery of a child victim of abuse, and that such recovery should take place in an environment which fosters the health, self-respect and dignity of the child. As the occupying power, Israel has the obligation to protect Palestinian civilians from all acts or threats of violence, including by Israeli settlers, and to ensure that attacks are investigated effectively and perpetrators held accountable.

ARRESTS AND DETENTION

Between 1 March – 31 May, UN OCHA reports that Israeli forces conducted more than 541 search and arrest operations arresting more than 497 Palestinians (including 20 children) in the West Bank. In addition, children who are Palestinian citizens of Israel were reportedly targeted for arrest.

As of 31 March 2021 (latest figures available) Military Court Watch documents 168 Palestinian children (12 – 17 years old) in Israeli military detention facilities.

• UN OCHA reports that in the period 2-15 March Israeli forces carried out 193 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 172 Palestinians, including 15 children, across the West Bank. The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (48), followed by the Hebron (37) and Jerusalem governorates (35).

• UN OCHA reports that in the period 16-29 March, Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank. The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested.

• UN OCHA reports that during the period 13-26 April, there were daily clashes between Israeli forces, who shot tear gas canisters, sound grenades and rubber bullets, and Palestinians, who threw stones and bottles. Violence was particularly intense on 22 April, after Israeli civilians marched to Damascus Gate of the Old City, chanting anti-Arab slogans and clashed with Palestinians before both groups were dispersed by Israeli forces. Scattered attacks by Palestinians and by Israeli civilians included physical assault, stone-throwing and setting cars on fire. In Jerusalem, 208 Palestinians, including seven children, were arrested, including for reported attacks on Israelis.

• On 23 May, Israeli media outlets publicised that Israeli authorities had initiated an operation dubbed as ‘Law and Order’ with the intention to arrest some 500 people within two days in order to ‘even the score’ with Palestinian citizens of Israel. The operation was announced following widespread protests by Palestinian citizens of Israel and Palestinian residents of occupied East Jerusalem against the imminent forcible displacement of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah, militarised repression at Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, and the 11-day military bombardment of the Gaza Strip. Israeli authorities stated on 23 May that they had already detained over 1,550 Palestinian citizens of Israel since 9 May, including a reported large number of children.

Article 3(1) of the UNCRC obliges states to ensure that: ‘In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration’. Further, Article 37(b) of the UNCRC states that no child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily and that it shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time. The high number of search and arrest operations in Palestinian villages and towns across the West Bank and resulting child arrests, along with the high number of Palestinian-Israelis including children targeted for arrest, strongly indicate that Israel is in breach of its obligations under Articles 3(1) and 37(b).

INTERFERENCE AGAINST EDUCATION

According to UN OCHA, local authorities report that 141 government schools suffered some degree of damage during the 10-21 May hostilities in Gaza. UN OCHA reports that many schools, three kindergartens, one UNRWA vocational education centre, two Ministry of Education directorate buildings and the premises of the Islamic University were damaged due to the hostilities, with reports indicating that a number were directly hit by airstrikes or tank shells. Almost 600,000 students have had suffered a significant learning loss, in addition to the psychosocial consequences.

Article 28 of the UNCRC stipulates that education should be accessible to all children on the basis of equal opportunity, obliging Israel to ensure that children in the oPt have unrestricted access to education.

DEMOLITIONS & DISPLACEMENT

UN OCHA reports that an estimated 15,130 housing units sustained some degree of damage in Gaza, as did multiple water and sanitation facilities and infrastructure and 33 health facilities. 1,042 housing and commercial units were destroyed. In addition, 769 housing units were severely damaged and rendered uninhabitable. At the height of the violence, there were 113,000 internally displaced people seeking shelter. Thousands remain displaced as of 10 June. Demolitions and displacement in the West Bank remain a matter of huge concern. Data collected by UN OCHA records that 103 people, including 55 children (21 girls and 34 boys) have been displaced by the demolition of 94 structures in the West Bank during the reporting period.

Article 27 of the UNCRC protects children’s right to a standard of living and seeks to ensure that this standard is adequate with respect to the child’s physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development. The UNCRC further adds that State Parties are responsible for taking appropriate measures to provide assistance in respect to nutrition, clothing and housing. The actions of the Government of Israel in rendering children and their parents homeless and disrupting families’ livelihoods through demolitions of homes clearly violates both the letter and the spirit of the UNCRC.

Article 18(2) of the UNCRC obliges State Parties to give appropriate assistance to parents and legal guardians in the performance of their child-rearing responsibilities. Demolitions and subsequent forced displacement violate this right as it harms parents and legal guardians’ ability to fulfil their responsibilities of looking after and providing shelter for their children.

Article 16(1) of the UNCRC protects children’s rights to not be subject to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family and home and Article 16(2) entitles children to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks. Demolitions affect this right as it physically displaces children from their family homes without first giving them access to a legal system through which they could challenge such actions.

Further Reading

Attacks on family homes in Gaza

Hundreds of residential units were destroyed and thousands more damaged in Israeli attacks on Gaza between 10-21 May 2021. At least 104 people, including 32 children, were killed while inside residential buildings in Gaza. Please see LPHR’s urgent action letter to the Foreign Secretary Dominica Raab of 26 May, which requests that the UK government calls for legal accountability for the widespread targeted attacks on homes in Gaza during the most recent hostilities.

Permission to travel for medical treatment denied to children in Gaza

B’Tselem reports that since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Israel has tightened restrictions on travel for medical treatment, drastically decreasing the number of people allowed to travel from Gaza to the West Bank or Israel for medical treatment. Child cancer patients in need of urgent medical treatment have been denied permission to travel or have had their applications kept under review for prolonged periods. The implications of this for children who urgently need access to medical treatment outside the Gaza Strip, including those struggling with life-threatening illnesses and those injured in the recent attacks on Gaza, are dire.

Testimony from the mother of 15-year-old M.H from Rafah, tells of how despite her daughter having a cancerous tumour in her leg, Israel has repeatedly rejected her application to travel to Ramallah for surgery. M.H’s mother told B’Tselem that their request to urgently travel to al-Istishari hospital on the 11th January 2021 for tests was denied by Israeli authorities. A new appointment was set for the 22nd of February but as of the 7th March 2021, permission has not been granted.

Al Mezan reports that despite the hundreds of children injured during the recent violence in Gaza, only 17 people were allowed to leave Gaza for medical treatment between 24-31 May 2021, after the ceasefire.

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