The Public Relations and Media Unit in the Jerusalem Governorate issued its report for the month of August of the year 2024, on the crimes of the Israeli occupation in the Jerusalem Governorate, in which it summarized all the violations that were monitored in the neighborhoods and towns of the governorate.

The martyrs and the file of the bodies held by the occupation:

During August of the year 2024, (3) martyrs were killed in the Jerusalem Governorate, namely the child Shadi Sheha (16 years old), Khalil Salem Ziyada (37 years old), and from outside the governorate, Muhammad Hamash.

The file of detained bodies: During the month of August, the occupation detained the body of the martyr Shadi Sheha, thus raising the number of bodies of Jerusalemite martyrs detained by the occupation authorities in the occupation refrigerators and numbered cemeteries to 43.

Settler attacks:

The attacks of settlers and Jewish extremists on Palestinians in general and on the residents of the Jerusalem Governorate in particular are increasing, in light of the failure of the occupation police to arrest the aggressors among them. Rather, the fascist occupation government deliberately provides cover for their racist criminal practices, as evidenced by illegal manipulation and deception to provide a safety net that protects these aggressors, considering them the powerful tool of the extremist occupation policy to implement and achieve their goals.

During August 2024, the Jerusalem Governorate recorded about (15) attacks by settlers, including (3) attacks involving physical harm.

Injuries:

Jerusalem Governorate monitored during August 2024 injuries resulting from the occupation's use of excessive force against Jerusalemites. About (4) injuries were monitored as a result of live and rubber-coated metal bullets and severe beatings, in addition to cases of suffocation by gas.

 

Crimes against Al-Aqsa Mosque:

In a clear and explicit violation of the sanctity of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, settlers' incursions continue during August 2024, as 7,702 settlers and 3,286 under the name of "tourism" stormed the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque during the de facto situation imposed by the occupation and called the morning and evening periods, under heavy protection from the occupation police. On August 13, which coincided with the so-called "Temple Destruction" anniversary, 2,958 settlers stormed the blessed mosque. The so-called extremist occupation security minister Itamar Ben Gvir, the so-called Negev and Galilee Minister Yitzhak Wasser-Lav, and the occupation Knesset member Amit Halevi participated in the storming. They participated in collective and public prayers in Al-Aqsa, and chanted the anthem "The people of Israel live". The settlers raised Israeli flags, prayed individual and collective public prayers, and sang during the storming of Al-Aqsa. The most dangerous shift during the month of August was an attempt to impose a new political reality through repeated stormings by the occupation ministers and members of the Knesset. The extremist "Ben Gvir" declared his intention to build a synagogue inside the blessed mosque, and to implement a policy that allows Jews to pray in Al-Aqsa Mosque on an equal footing with Muslims. Former Knesset member Moshe Feiglin boasted that he had performed his entire prayer in Al-Aqsa for the first time in 30 years, and considered it a "major change" in the way settlers storm Al-Aqsa, and an affirmation of "Israeli sovereignty" over Al-Aqsa. Rabbi (Yosef Elbaum), one of the rabbis of the so-called "Temple Mount Religious School", joined him in the prayer.

The so-called Minister of Heritage in the occupation government, Amichai Eliyahu, also announced his intention to allocate two million shekels to support settlers' storming of Al-Aqsa and to promote the alleged "biblical narrative" about the mosque.

The settlers' collective and public prayers in Al-Aqsa have become daily in recent days, especially in the eastern area "a few meters from the Bab al-Rahma prayer hall" under the protection of the occupation forces.

The settlers also brought in "holy Jewish books" during their storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque and performed collective prayers led by rabbis and performed epic prostration.

Excavations under Al-Aqsa Mosque and Preventing Restoration

On August 11, a stone fell from the wall of the Tankaziyya School onto the occupied Buraq Wall plaza west of Al-Aqsa Mosque. The occupation said that the fall of the archaeological stone was due to water leaking from the roof of the Tankaziyya School, which led to pressure on the stones and the bonding material between them.

 

 

Targeting national and Islamic figures:

Under the far-right government led by herds of settler colonists, the occupation authorities continue their attempts to impose sovereignty over Jerusalem and its holy sites with the aim of imposing a new reality, and continue their racist policy against the national and religious symbols of Jerusalem. During August, the occupation forces targeted His Eminence Sheikh Dr. Akram Sabri, the preacher of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and head of the Supreme Islamic Council, as the so-called Minister of the Interior of the occupation "Moshe Arbel" demanded the withdrawal of the Jerusalem residency from Sheikh Akram Sabri, and the so-called Minister of National Security "Itamar Ben Gvir" demanded the occupation police to investigate Sheikh Sabri, after he mourned the martyr Ismail Haniyeh, the former Prime Minister, from the pulpit of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque. The occupation forces arrested His Eminence Sheikh Sabri and released him on the condition that he be removed from the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The occupation intelligence handed the Secretary of the Fatah Movement in Jerusalem, Shadi Al-Mutawwar, a decision to renew his removal from the West Bank for a new period of six months. It is noteworthy that the occupation has been imposing military decisions on Al-Mutawwar for more than five years, and they are renewed periodically every six months.

 

 Arrests:

During the month of August, more than (78) arrests were monitored in all areas of the Jerusalem Governorate, including (7) children and (5) women.

 

Decisions of the occupation courts:

The occupation courts impose unfair decisions on detainees, ranging from issuing actual prison sentences, imposing house arrest, in addition to deportation decisions and heavy fines. Some of them were issued travel bans by the occupation court, in addition to extending the detention of a large number of detainees for long months and perhaps years without directing clear charges against them.

 

Actual Prison Sentences

The report monitored the racist occupation courts issuing (18) actual prison sentences against Jerusalemite prisoners, including (17) administrative detention sentences "i.e. without clearly specifying a charge against them". Among the most prominent sentences issued by the occupation authorities during August was the sentence issued against lawyer Muhammad Alian, sentencing him to 12 months in actual prison.

 

Decisions on House Detention

House detention has become a sword hanging over the necks of Jerusalemites, which is represented by the imposition of rulings by the occupation court requiring a person to remain inside the house for specific periods of time in a forced manner, which has turned the homes of Jerusalemites into prisons for them. Three decisions on house detention were monitored by the occupation authorities during the month of August, including a decision against the boy Muhammad Yasser Darwish.

 

Deportation Decisions

The occupation authorities use the deportation decisions they issue as a means to suppress the Palestinian presence in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Old City, Bab al-Amoud, and other targeted neighborhoods. During August, the occupation authorities issued 19 deportation decisions, including (13) decisions to deport from Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Travel bans: The occupation uses security reasons to prevent Palestinians from traveling, especially in occupied Jerusalem. During the month of August, two travel bans were issued against the two Jerusalemite women, Hanadi Halwani and Khadija Khweis.

Demolitions and bulldozing operations:

The occupation authorities are pursuing a policy of demolishing citizens' homes in occupied Jerusalem, which comes within the context of punitive measures, forced displacement, and ethnic cleansing of citizens, and the Judaization and "Israelization" of the occupied city. The occupation authorities justify the demolition of homes in general on the pretext that they were built without a permit, despite the scarcity of approval for the necessary permits to build homes for Jerusalemites.

During the month of August, the number of demolitions and bulldozing operations in the Jerusalem Governorate reached (44) demolitions and bulldozing operations, including: (6 forced self-demolition operations) and (33 demolitions carried out by occupation mechanisms), in addition to 5 bulldozing operations.

 

 

 

Demolition, forced eviction and land confiscation orders:

During the month of August, the occupation authorities delivered more than 21 demolition notices in various villages and towns in the Jerusalem Governorate, as the occupation delivered demolition notices to the Wadi al-Joz neighborhood, the al-Bustan neighborhood in the town of Silwan, the village of al-Issawiya, and the Shuafat camp.

Seizure of property:

Settlers stormed the home of the Shehadeh family in the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood in the town of Silwan, south of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, and seized it under the protection of the occupation forces. The occupation forces prevented Jerusalemite Younis Shehadeh from entering his residential building consisting of five apartments, coinciding with the settlers storming the building after seizing it in the town of Silwan in occupied Jerusalem.

 

Violations against Jerusalemite institutions and landmarks:

In ongoing attempts to undermine Jerusalemite efforts inside the occupied capital, the occupation continues its policy of closing down institutions operating there and suppressing activities that prove the presence and steadfastness of Jerusalemites in the occupied city.

Among the most prominent of these attacks during the month of August was the occupation’s prevention of two events in Jerusalem, the first of which was the screening of Palestinian films about the Gaza Strip, at the Yabous Cultural Center, as the occupation forces stormed the center and prevented the screening.

The occupation also prevented a tribute to Tawjihi students in the Safsaf Hall in the Wadi al-Hummus neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem, which was to be held by the “Wafa for Women and Children” Association, as warnings and threats were issued to storm the hall if the event was held.

 

Targeting Jerusalem hospitals: The occupation forces stormed al-Maqasid Hospital in the town of al-Tur in occupied Jerusalem.

Targeting media institutions: During August, the occupation government approved a proposal by the so-called Minister of Communications in the occupation government to ban al-Mayadeen channel, confiscate its equipment, and block its websites. After the decision, the Minister of Communications signed orders to confiscate the channel’s equipment and block its websites.

Attacks on journalists: As for the attacks on journalists during the month of August, the occupation intelligence summoned journalists Ahmed Jalajel and Rose al-Zaro for investigation, and then released them after an investigation that lasted about two hours, on condition that they be kept away from the Old City and the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque for a week, subject to extension.

Erasing the City’s Landmarks: The colonial settlement association “El’ad” launched a summer celebration in Wadi al-Rababa in the town of Silwan, south of Al-Aqsa Mosque, to attract settlers to Silwan and its occupied valley. The celebration provides settlers and their children with a rural atmosphere and activities to connect them to the land, including herding livestock, making baskets, and learning about ancient crafts.

This celebration is one of the activities of the “Farm in the Valley” project, which El’ad established under the auspices of the occupation municipality, northwest of Wadi al-Rababa, as an agricultural tourist settlement outpost.

 

Settlement Projects:

In its relentless and insanely accelerating efforts to impose a new reality on the occupied city of Jerusalem and Judaize it by implementing dangerous colonial projects, during the month of August the occupation authorities opened two projects that had been previously worked on, and settlers established a new colonial outpost.

* Opening of a garden for settlers of the French Hill northeast of Al-Aqsa Mosque, with an area of 63 dunams, and it was named (Horesha).

* The occupation municipality in Jerusalem opened a large station for electric buses on the occupied lands of Jerusalemites near the colonial settlement neighborhood of Ramot, north of occupied Jerusalem.

* Settlers established a settlement outpost in the Khan al-Ahmar area in occupied Jerusalem.