On Sunday 13 February, Israeli forces’ repressive tactics in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of occupied Jerusalem, or al-Quds as it is known in Arabic, left 31 Palestinians injured. 12 were detained.
Amongst the injured are three paramedics, a journalist, and three foreign activists, whose nationalities are unknown.
Injuries were caused by rubber bullets, stun grenades, and pepper spray, in addition to beatings.
Israeli forces detained 12 Palestinians supporting residents of the neighbourhood, according to a statement by the Israeli police.
From midday Sunday, Israeli forces initiated various repressive tactics against the residents of Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood and those in solidarity with them. At the same moment, settlers’ groups attacked residents.
In the evening, the Israeli police’s mounted division was deployed, preventing residents from performing the evening prayer. Tear gas and stun grenades were fired at the neighbourhood’s residents and solidarity activists.
Earlier that day, tensions had increased after the hardline Israeli MP Itamar Ben-Gvir opened a parliamentary office in the neighbourhood, as he had previously threatened to do.
Eyewitnesses report that dozens of settlers stormed the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, accompanied by Ben-Gvir.
And, this morning, Ben-Gvir, who leads the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, again stormed the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.
A short statement issued by Ben-Gvir office stated that he will continue to work from his new Sheikh Jarrah office.
Since the early hours of this morning, Israeli occupation authorities have imposed a complete closure of Sheikh Jarrah, which is at the centre of occupied al-Quds, preventing Palestinian citizens from entering or leaving.
Since 1956, 27 Palestinian families have resided in Sheikh Jarrah, following an agreement with the Jordanian government, which governed the West Bank including al-Quds before Israel’s 1967 occupation, and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
Israeli settlers claim that the homes were built on land that had been owned by Jews before 1948, which the Palestinian residents dispute.
Dozens of Palestinian families in al-Quds, in particular the Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighbourhoods, are facing eviction from the homes they have lived in for decades, in order that settlers can take them.
