OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)
The annual report issued by the Jerusalem Governorate on Monday (1/1/2024) revealed the increase in crime rates and violations of the Israeli occupation in the holy city during the year 2023.
The report pointed out that “the rabid attacks by the occupation authorities and settlers continue, under the right-wing occupation government that implements an extremist program aimed at annexation, displacement, Judaization, land seizure, and deepening colonization and racial segregation.”
According to statistics mentioned in the report, “51 Palestinian citizens from Jerusalem, including 20 children, were martyred during the past year. Additionally, 13 Jerusalemite martyrs fell in Gaza during the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Strip, and 7 martyrs in Jerusalem from other Palestinian cities.”
The report highlighted that during 2023, about “224 attacks were carried out by settlers, including 50 attacks involving physical harm.”
It confirmed that “injuries resulting from the excessive use of force by the occupation forces against Jerusalemites in various parts of the city were documented. There were also 543 injuries as a result of live and rubber-coated metal bullets and brutal beatings by the occupation forces, in addition to hundreds of cases of teargas suffocation.”
The report explained that “51,158 settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque, under strict protection from the heavily armed special forces of the occupation, during the year 2023.”
Regarding arrests, the report stated that “about 3,081 cases of arrest of Palestinians in all areas of the city of Jerusalem were recorded, including 318 children and 135 women.”
The occupation courts issued during the past year, “330 actual imprisonment sentences against Jerusalemite citizens, including 153 administrative detention sentences, in addition to imposing very heavy fines. Also, 316 house arrests were issued by the occupation authorities against Jerusalemite citizens.”
The year 2023 also witnessed the issuance of 740 deportation decisions by the occupation authorities, including 561 deportations from Al-Aqsa Mosque, according to the report.
Regarding travel bans, the report indicated that “the occupation authorities handed over 38 travel ban decisions to Palestinian citizens from Jerusalem.”
As for demolition operations in the Jerusalem Governorate, they reached 316 during the past year, including 79 forced self-demolitions, in addition to 40 excavation operations. The occupation authorities issued 263 demolition orders during the same year, according to the governorate.
“The occupation authorities released 79 Jerusalemite prisoners, including 24 women and 55 children (between 14-18 years), as part of the prisoner exchange deal (with the Palestinian resistance in Gaza),” the report said.
During the year 2023, the occupation authorities approved 29 settlement projects in Jerusalem, the report concluded.
