Detained Gaza workers in Al-Khalil. Credit: Palestinian media
We have heard that 900 of the Gazans working in Israel have been arrested over the past two days. Amongst those detained are 30 of the 45 men we saw in Hebron. They were arrested by the Occupation forces on the night of October 16 – 17.
Some Gazan workers had been welcomed in a Ramallah hostel two nights before. The hostel was raided by the P. A. , but the men had already left and they escaped detention.
70 workers have arrived in Farr’ea, the refugee camp near Tubas. These people also tell of roadside shootings and slaughtered families.
In Tubas itself there are currently around 130 men. Destitute, they cannot move around because of the increased number of checkpoints in the area. An independent trade union movement is providing for their basic needs, but more help is urgently needed, especially since many more are expected to arrive over the coming days.
Local activists hope to get them to nearby farms where they can find work. These men’s only wish is to return to their families in Gaza. Tragically, this might not be possible in a near future.
15 October, 2023 | International Solidarity Movement | Tulkarm
By Diana Khwaelid
The 16-year-old martyr Mohammed Adwan was fatally wounded by a live bullet fired by an Israeli soldier while participating in a demonstration in solidarity with Gaza that took place last Friday, 13th of October, 2023.
Mohammed answered the call to participate in a demonstration organized by the youth of the village of Far’oun, south of the city of Tulkarm. Last Friday was one of anger in all cities of the world, and Mohammed could not sit at home. He went out to meet the call and express in his own way his solidarity with the people of Gaza as Israel was bombing civilian homes in the Strip.
Mohammed was a student studying at Far’oun Secondary School. The occupation killed his dreams and ambition.
Mohammed was fatally injured, although he was unarmed: the occupation does not distinguish between big and small, and it shoots at the young
demonstrators nevertheless. Mohammed’s injury was between moderate and serious, but his small, thin body could not withstand it. He died from his wounds a day later. Mohammed is the first son in the family, he has another brother and two sisters, his family said goodbye to him with moments of oppression and sadness.
Dozens of Palestinians in the village participated in the funeral of the child martyr Mohammed Adwan and chanted Palestinian patriotic phrases in a state of anger, sadness and oppression, as the occupation forces continue to kill and shed the blood of
Palestinian youth, especially children.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 1000 children, a third of whom infants, were killed in Gaza since Saturday, 7th of October. 43% of Gaza’s population is younger than 14 years-old.
Mohammed Hathaleen, a disabled resident of Umm al-Khair who was shot at by Israeli soldiers next to the settlement fence of Carmel (pictured behind)
16 October, 2023 | International Solidarity Movement | Masafer Yatta
In the week since Israel began its onslaught on Gaza, soldiers and settlers have bulldozed homes, carried out night raids and attacked Palestinians across the Masafer Yatta region.
Occupation forces have taken advantage of the state of emergency to escalate their violence and displacement of Palestinians in the southern region of the West Bank.
Olive trees have also been uprooted and rampaging settlers have opened fire on shepherds and villagers.
Villagers in Umm al-Khair have been documenting the growing number of attacks by settlers in Masafer Yatta. The community shared this information with ISM, which we are reporting here.
On October 7, settlers set up road blocks throughout Masafer Yatta, preventing villagers from accessing vital services and disrupting their daily lives.
On the same day, a group of settlers entered the village of Khalet Adabe, attacking one resident and breaking his arm.
On Tuesday, October 10, settlers in military uniforms entered Umm al Khair and proceeded to detain the young people of the village, checking their IDs and confiscating cell phones.
The settlers claimed that they had seen someone from the village walking ‘dangerously’ close to the fence surrounding the settlement of Carmel. This turned out to be Mohammed Hathaleen, a disabled man, who was left with severe brain damage after being brutally beaten by Carmel settlers 23 years ago.
“Mohammad currently lives in a state of unawareness of his surroundings,” his brother Tariq Hathaleen said. “In his condition, he is unable to perceive or react to danger, particularly when walking near the settlement fence.
“It’s difficult to fathom or even endure such an accusation, given that the Carmel settlement is located merely one metre from Umm al-Khair village.”
The settlers left with a warning that they would shoot anyone who comes in close proximity to the fence that separates the settlements from the village.
On Monday, October 16, the village of Umm al-Khair was terrorised once again when a military patrol stopped and soldiers pointed their guns at Mohammed Hathaleen. They are said to have put down their guns after villagers shouted at them to stop.
Carmel was built in 1981 on the doorstep of Umm al-Khair, a Bedouin village that has lived under constant threat of demolition for many years.
Also on Tuesday (October 10), settlers accompanied by the military demolished five Palestinian homes and two animal barns in the village of Simri.
On Wednesday, October 11, several villagers including Susyiah, at-Tuwani, Adirat, Umm Al-Khair, Al-Karmel and Ajawaiah came under gunfire by settlers.
A military patrol also opened fire on a shepherd near the village of at-Tuwani without warning. He was left unharmed but two of his sheep were shot and injured.
As previously reported by ISM, a settler shot at-Tuwani resident Zakarya Adra in the stomach on Friday, October 13.
Hathaleen continued: “What is happening is unlike anything before; nobody can predict what tomorrow may bring. There seem to be no openings for hope or a clear vision of tomorrow at this time.
“As the ordeal enters its second week, the people endure immense suffering, despite limited media coverage of these distressing events. It begs the question: How much longer must Palestinians endure before the world takes notice and acts?”
On Friday, October 13th 2023, a settler from the illegal Israeli outpost of Havat Ma’on entered the Palestinian village of At-Tuwani, in the region of Masafer Yatta, armed with an assault rifle and shot a Palestinian man in the stomach at point blank range.
The video, which was made public by B’Tselem, shows the armed settler walking towards a group of Palestinians as he invaded the village. After hitting a Palestinian man with the gun, the settler pointed his weapon on the same man and shot him in the stomach, before falling back while keeping his weapon pointed on the unarmed group of Palestinians, who at this point were approaching the wounded man to rescue him. This happened as the armed settler was accompanied and protected by an Israeli army soldier.
The Palestinian man was rushed to the hospital and is now reportedly in stable conditions.
This episode comes amidst a peak of settler violence in the South Hebron Hills. On Thursday, October 12th, armed settlers dressed in Israeli army uniforms invaded the village of At-Tuwani from the illegal Israeli outpost of Havat Ma’on, shot live ammunition in the direction of Palestinians and internationalists, raided a house, wounded a Palestinian man, vandalised cultivated land and planted Israeli flags.
On the night of Saturday, October 14th, Israeli settlers entered the Palestinian village of Isfey at night and damaged the water tanks and electric grid of the village with knives.
Palestinians in Masafer Yatta are reporting frequent patrols of armed settlers on Palestinian lands and villages.
These attacks are increasing drastically in the occupied West Bank, with settlers taking advantage of the current situation of violence in Gaza, relying on all forms of violence either going unnoticed or being excused by the international community.
Gazans being held by Israeli police. Photo from one of the workers.
15 October, 2023 | International Solidarity Movement | al-Khalil
EXPLOITATION AND OCCUPATION
Hundreds of Gazan workers are being given refuge in Palestine, after having been dumped in the West Bank by Israel.
45 of them are in al-Khalil and the ISM spoke to many of them this evening.
These labourers were working in Israeli settlements. When Hamas broke out of Gaza they were rounded up, detained, and at least one of them was beaten and hospitalised. They spent four hours in prison, their phones confiscated and without contact with the outside world. One man says 6500NIS was stolen from him by the police.
Apartments have been provided by charitable individuals and groups are giving them food and bringing them brand-new clothing to replace the belongings they were not allowed to bring from Israel.
SO WHAT WERE THESE GUYS DOING IN ISRAEL?
After 16 years of blockade, Gaza’s economy has collapsed. Gazans buy Israeli work permits so as to get jobs as labourers in construction or hospitality. These permits, valid for one month, are purchased from specialised companies and cost 3,000 NIS. Gazan workers earn 6000 NIS monthly for 45 hour weeks. Israelis would be paid around 20,000 shekels for doing an equivalent job. These migrant workers have no health insurance or job security. They have to be married, too.
Women migrant workers find jobs in factories or in agriculture. Manual labour is the only option available to people from Gaza. One of the workers we spoke to has a degree in engineering, one qualified as a social worker and another was a teacher.
Visits to their wives and families are possible at weekends, and they try to return at least twice a month. Travel through the Eretz crossing involves a long wait of up to 12 hours, the crossing opens at 4am on a Sunday morning to let them through. Everything is checked, and they can’t take clothes through, so clothing has to be bought (at high expense) in Israel.
The guards at the border can deny entry at will to anyone, whether or not they have a permit. Israeli intelligence often interrogates and threatens the workers, hoping to add them to the network of informers in Gaza.
THE LUCKY ONES
We were told that around 1,500 migrant workers are still detained or missing in Israel. Their families in Gaza were asking for information about them.
We heard that, when Israel declared war, one of the employers of Gazan workers informed the police that the people working for him were terrorists. We saw a video of corpses after the police intervention. The people shot were colleagues of one of the men we spoke to. Here are their names:
Hashim Barawi (killed)
Suliman Al Atar (killed)
Hary Al Masry (location unknown)
Sahel AL Masry
Nabil Al Barrawi (injured)
Talal Warshasha (injured)
The workers intend to use every legal means possible to obtain justice.
NOT WAR BUT EXTERMINATION
The situation these men are in is difficult, but they are distraught about the situation in Gaza and worried about their families. “My son works with the emergency services, Israel bombed his ambulance, the driver was killed and my son is injured.” “My building was bombed, and my wife and kids are now living in a tent.” “I keep phoning my wife, but there is no answer.”
They denounce the lies and hypocrisy of the international community in its support for Israel. Western countries talk about law and democracy, but they respect neither. How can they support this massacre, this lack of humanity?
One of the men sums it up: This is not war, it is extermination.
Despite the atrocious, immoral position of the countries whose passports we hold, only one man didn’t greet us warmly. Hearing we were from European countries, he said he didn’t want to be in the same room as us.
I was totally sincere when I replied that I understood his feelings, that we are in Palestine because of our countries’ responsibility in the destruction of Palestine, because we don’t agree with Europe’s policies and that we would like to do what we can to tell people about what is happening here. If you’ve read this far, please help us in getting the word out and stopping this genocide.
