Overview

In May, Israel launched a five-day offensive in the occupied and blockaded Gaza Strip, killing 11 Palestinian civilians. Following a Hamas-led attack in southern Israel on 7 October during which at least 1,000 people were killed, of which 36 were children, and some 245 were taken hostage or captive, Israel conducted intense military operations that killed 21,600 Palestinians in Gaza, a third of them children, and wrecked 60% of homes. In October, Israel intensified its 16-year blockade on Gaza, cutting off all supplies, including food, water, electricity, fuel and medicines, aggravating the humanitarian catastrophe. Following 7 October, Israeli authorities increased restrictions on freedom of movement across the occupied West Bank. Israeli authorities deepened the apartheid system oppressing Palestinians in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, by implementing laws and policies of segregation, deprivation and forced displacement. In Gaza alone, 1.9 million Palestinians were forcibly displaced due to Israeli offensives, out of a population of 2.2 million. State-backed settler violence increased. In the Negev/Naqab in southern Israel, Israeli forces continued to demolish Bedouin homes and whole villages, including one village for the 222nd time. In the West Bank, Israeli policing operations were the most lethal since 2005, with 110 Palestinian children among those killed. Detentions of Palestinians without charge or trial reached record levels. Inside Israel, police sometimes used excessive force and arbitrary arrests at anti-government demonstrations, and imposed bans on anti-war protests in Palestinian communities. LGBTI people continued to face discrimination in law and practice.