A/HRC/34/36 32. Collective punishment is not limited to the immediate families of alleged attackers. Following the gun attack in Tel Aviv on 8 June 2016 in which four Israelis were killed, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office announced the revocation of 204 work permits issued to the attackers’ extended families and suspended all 83,000 permits granted to West Bank and Gaza residents to travel to Jerusalem and Israel during Ramadan. 33 The Government also announced the mass revocation of work permits for residents of Bani Na’im, the village from which some of the Palestinian attackers originated. 34 33. The closure of entire villages and towns as a form of punishment continued to be implemented during the reporting period. For example, the three main entrances of the village of Bani Na’im were closed off between 30 June and 10 August 2016, after a Palestinian resident killed a child in a nearby Israeli settlement. The absence of vehicular access for 40 days to the village had a significant impact on the lives of the 27,000 residents and particularly affected the functioning of the 30 local stone-cutting factories. A crew from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society told OHCHR that the closure of the village had created lengthy delays in the provision of emergency health care, effectively forcing first responders to carry patients over large earth mounds to transfer them to ambulances outside the village. 34. After a shooting incident on a nearby highway on 1 July in which one Israeli was killed, the Israeli Prime Minister announced “aggressive measures” that included cordoning off the entire Hebron district of 700,000 people.35 Severe restrictions imposed through most of July followed.36 The strategic use of collective punishment measures appears to be part of the Israeli Defense Minister’s “carrot and stick” policy announced on 17 August, by which villages from where Palestinian attackers originated would face increased punitive measures.37 As the Secretary-General has pointed out, “closures — such as those in Hebron — as well as punitive demolitions and blanket revocations of permits penalize thousands of innocent Palestinians and amount to collective punishment”.38 35. Israeli politicians have continued to call for measures of collective punishment. After a gun attack in Jerusalem on 9 October 2016, the Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem, who also chairs the planning and building board, announced the shelving of all construction plans for residents of East Jerusalem. He further suggested dividing Palestinian neighbourhoods of the city and the forcible transfer of family members of attackers to Gaza to change their “animal behaviour”, adding “there are no carrots left, only sticks”.39 The Mayor of Jerusalem later denied that this view represented municipal policy. OHCHR is unaware of any action subsequently taken against the Deputy Mayor. 36. The ongoing Israeli blockade, which also constitutes a form of collective punishment, continued to restrict the enjoyment by Gazans of a range of human rights, including their right to freedom of movement and their economic and social rights.40 The blockade remains a key driver of Gaza’s humanitarian crisis, along with high 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 8 See www.pmo.gov.il/English/MediaCenter/Spokesman/Pages/spokeCabinet090616.aspx. See www.pmo.gov.il/English/MediaCenter/Spokesman/Pages/spokeStart030716.aspx. Ibid. See www.ochaopt.org/content/hebron-governorate-movement-restrictions-5-july-2016. See www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Liberman-unveils-new-carrot-and-stick-policy-for-WestBank-Palestinians-464360; www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.724089, and www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4843007,00.html. See www.unsco.org/Documents/Statements/MSCB/2008/Security%20Council%20Briefing%20%2012%20July%202016.pdf. See www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.746987. See A/71/364, para. 28; and A/HRC/31/44, para. 40.