In 2022 Israel killed at least 220 Palestinians, the highest number in 17 years
Rights — di Luigi Mastrodonato
The tragic toll for the Palestinian people stems from an escalation of violence by Israel. Among the deaths, 48 children.
In 2022 Israel killed at least 220 Palestinians, the highest number in 17 years
The tragic toll for the Palestinian people stems from an escalation of violence by Israel. Among the deaths, 48 children.
- It was since the Second Intifada that Israel had not killed so many Palestinians in the West Bank as in 2022.
- 167 people were killed in the West Bank, 53 in the Gaza Strip.
- The toll is the consequence of an escalation of military operations and Israel's repression.
2022 was a particularly tragic year for the Palestinian people. At least 220 Palestinians were killed by Israel, of whom 167 in the West Bank: a figure not seen since the Second Intifada in the early 2000s. The number of wounded was as high as 9,500.
Because of this escalation of violence, Israel has been warned on several occasions by the UN to put an end to its aggressions in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. And in recent days the General Assembly approved a resolution tasking the International Court of Justice with investigating Israel's occupation of Palestine.
The tragic Palestinian toll
The figures are provided by the Palestinian Ministry of Health and represent the worst killing of Palestinians at Israeli hands in the West Bank in the past 17 years. At that time there was the Second Intifada, a widespread uprising by the oppressed Palestinian people against the Israeli occupation, which was suppressed with violence by Israel, to the point of drawing condemnation from the United Nations Security Council.
Since that time Israel has continued with its policies of aggression, expansion and annexation of Palestinian territories, with escalations of tension alternating with quieter periods. The Palestinian people have continued to die under Israeli fire, but never as in 2022. Over the past year there were at least 220 certified deaths, including 48 children. 167 people were killed in the West Bank, 53 in the Gaza Strip. To these must be added a further 5 Palestinians killed on Israeli territory.
Among the deaths that attracted the most attention was that of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, struck by Israeli bullets last May while documenting a military operation in Jenin. According to the data, in 2022 at least 95 Palestinian deaths were of people who had been taking part unarmed in protests or demonstrations. For Israel too it was a record year for deaths: in 2022, 29 of its citizens were killed by Palestinians.
Israel's violence grows
The reason for such a high number of Palestinian killings at Israeli hands lies both in the military operations conducted during 2022 and in the tightening of occupation policies.
In August Gaza was hit by several Israeli raids aimed at striking Palestinian armed militias, which caused around fifty deaths in just a few days, including several children. Meanwhile in the West Bank, Israeli special military operations in refugee camps multiplied in order to cripple insurgency movements against the occupation. One of the hardest moments for the Palestinian people came in October in Nablus, where dozens of people were killed amid clashes and Israeli army operations.
During 2022 many Palestinians also fell victim to attacks by settlers, as Israel continued to chip away at territories with increasingly aggressive expansionist policies. Settlers carried out more than 700 attacks against the indigenous Palestinian population of the West Bank in 2022, resulting in damage to property and land and in expropriations. This is almost double the number of attacks recorded in 2021, and in several cases they resulted in the deaths of those who suffered them, such as sixteen-year-old Amjad Nashaat Abu Alia.
If the figures for the year just ended are tragic for the Palestinian people, the even worse news is that they could rise further in 2023, after the sixth Netanyahu government was formed in recent days, considered the most extremist ever. The programme includes new settlements and an absolute refusal of any ceasefire or concession to Palestine. So much so that the UN weighed in on the issue, calling for the intervention of the International Court of Justice to assess the possible legal consequences of the Israeli occupation.