Week of Escalating Violence in Palestine: Jerusalem Day, Nakba, and a New Wave of Attacks

On May 14, during the celebration of Jerusalem Day – marking Israel's seizure of East Jerusalem in 1967 – tens of thousands of ultranationalist Israelis marched through the Old City, chanting 'Death to Arabs,' 'Your village burn,' and attacking Palestinian shops and residents.

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir raised the Israeli flag near the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, declaring 'The Temple is in our hands' – using the Jewish term for the site. His ally, lawmaker Yitzhak Kroizer, prostrated before the Dome of the Rock and said on social media that 'it is time to remove all mosques and build the Temple.'

Israeli authorities barred men under 60 and women under 50 from Al-Aqsa that morning, clearing the way for settler incursions – more than 2,200 over the week, according to the Palestinian Authority's Jerusalem governor – seriously violating the 'status quo' that prohibits non-Muslim prayer at the site and entrusts its administration to the Jordan-backed Islamic Waqf.

Viral videos showed settlers attacking residents in the Christian Quarter and Silwan, journalists being shoved and spat upon, and solidarity activists being removed by police while marchers passed freely.

The past week was one of the most violent and destructive periods in recent memory – not only due to Jerusalem Day but also because settlers coordinated large-scale raids into West Bank Areas A and B, killing a 16-year-old, displacing seven families, along with military strikes on Gaza and legislative moves suggesting the Israeli government is determined to create facts on the ground ahead of elections later this year.

Two Palestinian Teens Killed Amid Settler Violence Wave

The most devastating settler violence in the occupied West Bank occurred on May 13, when dozens of settlers, under military protection, carried out a coordinated attack on the villages of Jilijliya, Sinjil, and Abwein, north of Ramallah, according to local Palestinian activist networks. During the assault, 16-year-old Youssef Kaabneh was shot in the chest and died – an ambulance was blocked by Israeli military vehicles from reaching him in time, videos from local activists showed.

The settlers looted hundreds of sheep and two tractors, with videos showing them escorted by soldiers through towns with the stolen livestock, and three Palestinian residents were arrested. Kaabneh's family had previously been displaced from Wadi al-Siq due to settler violence and had taken shelter in Jilijliya, an area under Palestinian Authority administrative control, hoping for protection. The next day, seven families were forcibly displaced from the village outskirts, according to local activist networks.

The attack was part of a broader wave. On May 16, Israeli forces shot dead 16-year-old Fahd Awais in al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya, south of Nablus, after opening fire on his car; an ambulance was prevented from reaching him, according to the local Red Crescent. In Sinjil, settlers stabbed fifty-year-old Jaber Shabaneh in the leg as he was picking sage, according to field monitor Jonathan Pollack.

Settler attacks were documented in dozens of other communities over the past days. Settlers set fire to a mosque and vehicles in Jibiya, according to Palestinian news agency WAFA, and torched cars in Shaqba, Beit Ummar, Abu Falah, Majdal Bani Fadel, and Turmusayya, where a house was also set ablaze, according to local activist networks and WAFA. They attacked farmers in Marah Rabah, destroyed 150 fruit trees in Yasuf, burned olive trees in Burqa, ran over sheep in Khirbet al-Tawil, and blocked the Ashkara road south of Yatta, according to local Palestinian activist networks and Pollack.

Political and Legislative Developments

A death penalty law for Palestinians convicted of 'terrorist' killings in the West Bank came into effect on Sunday evening after Israeli military Central Command chief Avi Bluth signed the necessary military order, according to the Times of Israel. The law has been condemned by UN experts and multiple governments as discriminatory and potentially constituting a war crime.

Israel's ruling coalition submitted a bill to dissolve the Israeli parliament, with elections expected by late October. Opposition leader and former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman warned Israeli reporters that Netanyahu might launch a military operation for electoral purposes.

The Israeli government approved plans to build a military complex on the site of the destroyed UNRWA headquarters in Sheikh Jarrah, according to WAFA. Israeli authorities also approved plans to confiscate historical Palestinian properties in the Bab al-Silsila neighborhood near Al-Aqsa, and issued military orders for land confiscation in Jenin and Qabatiya, according to WAFA.

Also this week, Fatah held its eighth General Congress – the first in a decade – re-electing Mahmoud Abbas as leader and electing his son Yasser to the Central Committee, a move critics said prioritized loyalty over democratic values.

Gaza: Assassination, Airstrikes, and Bread Lines

Israel killed Izz al-Din al-Haddad, head of the Hamas armed wing, on Nakba Day – May 15 – in an airstrike that also killed his wife, daughter, and four other civilians in a residential building in Gaza City. Netanyahu confirmed in a television appearance that Israel now controls about 60% of the Gaza Strip – exceeding the 'golden line' agreed under the October ceasefire.

Airstrikes continued throughout the week across the strip. On May 14, brothers Tamer and Mohammad al-Mutawaq were killed in a drone strike on a group of civilians on al-Nazha Street in Jabalia, according to WAFA. On May 16, a Palestinian was killed in an airstrike near Abu Hussein School in Jabalia camp. On May 17, three community kitchen workers were killed in a strike on a food distribution point in Deir al-Balah, which Hamas called a 'deliberate war crime.' Another person was also killed the same day in an airstrike in Khan Younis, according to WAFA.

As such attacks continue, the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip remains critical, with bread lines growing longer. According to an OCHA situation report on May 15, only one of two aid trucks from Egypt could be unloaded at Israeli crossings in the first eleven days of May.

WHO estimated this week that over 43,000 people in Gaza have life-changing injuries – a quarter of them children – with no fully functional rehabilitation facilities. In Khan Younis, sewage pumping stations have stopped due to a lack of lubricating oil, flooding residential streets, according to OCHA.

Since the October ceasefire, 877 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed and more than 2,600 others injured. Since October 7, 2023, the cumulative death toll is 72,769.