A history of War crimes by Israeli Forces (Operation Guardian of the Walls)

Israel has launched Operation Guardian of the Walls in response to rockets fired by Hamas in TelAviv. It could be catastrophic for the Palestinians living in Gaza. Back in 2002 when Israel launched Operation Defensive Shield, 55 Palestinian children died in few days.

 Three brothers, Abdullah, 8, Azzam, 6, and Anas, 4, died under the rubble when their home was demolished by Israeli bulldozer in Nablus. A mother and her two children, Abeer and Basil were killed when an Israeli tank fired at the family. Ambulance wasn't allowed to evacuate them.

 

A fourteen year old boy was killed by the Israeli forces when he was going back home from the school. The Israeli forces claimed that the child was close to a settlement. However, the nearest settlement, Mijdal Oz, is located three kilometers from the place where Ameen was shot.

  

Three babies who were delivered at check posts died because of the delay in receiving health care. Dr Ali Sha'ar's newborn from Nablus, became unwell soon after home delivery. The Israeli occupation force prevented his transport to a hospital and he died a couple of hours later.

  The mines left by Israeli forces had the worst ramifications. Out of the 11 affected children, 7 died. 

Asad Orsan lost limbs, Saed al-Wahshi, 12, suffered severe burns and shrapnel over his entire body, Ameer Nashrati, 12, was injured while playing in the rubble.

 

Many children were detained by Israeli forces in appalling conditions at the Ofrah prison near the city of Ramallah. There was no electricity, no cleaning facilities and two of the compartments had flooded sewage. Food was prepared and eaten from large containers.

  

Israeli Minister of Prisoner Affairs announced that there are 7,500 prisoners detained in 12 prisons; 170 are children and 20 female. 

Children were subjected to torture. A child said that he was interrogated for an entire day and soldiers kept banging his head against a table.

  

 Since the beginning of second intifada in September 2000, Palestinian children were exposed to harassment, displacement, shooting, and destruction of their homes and schools. Of 483,460 school children interviewed at that time, 3% were stopped at checkpoints, 1.2% shot at.

 

The Institute of Community and Public Health (ICPH), Birzeit University prepared a brief statistical report on the daily life, health and environmental conditions of families living under curfew after Israel had launched Operation Defensive Shield.

 

600 were houses completely destroyed by bulldozers and bombs dropped by Israeli forces. 200 houses were unfit for habitation, leaving 1,250 families homeless. 

In Nablus, 250 houses were destroyed. 

11 schools were completely destroyed, 9 were vandalized, 15 were used as military installations, and 15 were used as detention facilities by Israeli forces. The education of thousands of Palestinian children was affected. 54,730 teaching sessions were lost in three weeks.

 

UNICEF estimates that more than 600,000 out of 986,000 children in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were unable to attend school on a regular bases.

Since the incursion, the ICPH report, reported that of those who were working prior to the Israeli offense, between 23 and 29 percent are no longer working. The main reasons given were the siege and collapse of the market.