A/HRC/31/42 contravening the obligations of Israel as an occupying power under humanitarian and human rights law.5 14. According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, August 2015 saw the highest number of demolitions of Palestinian structures in a single month, since January 2013. During that month alone, Israeli authorities demolished 145 structures, including at least 54 residential units and 16 donor-funded structures. The overwhelming majority of the demolitions occurred in Area C, mainly affecting the already vulnerable Bedouin herding communities. B. Recourse to remedy for Palestinians 15. In the 10 years since the International Court of Justice, in its advisory opinion dated 9 July 2004 (A/ES-10/273 and Corr.1), concluded that the construction of the wall in occupied territory and the settlements were illegal, the settler population in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has increased substantially (see A/69/348, para. 10). The Court noted that the wall had been traced in such a way as to include within that area the great majority of the Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem (see A/ES-10/273, para. 119). 16. By way of example, in August 2015 work on construction of the wall continued in Cremisan Valley, in Beit Jala village, despite protests by the Palestinian population. Reportedly, earth movers were uprooting olive trees to break the ground for the construction of the wall. The approval to take measures to construct the wall was granted on 8 July 2015 by the High Court. The wall, when fully constructed, will separate the West Bank city of Beit Jala from the settlement of Har Gilo and the village of Walaja. The planned route runs through the Cremisan Valley on land owned by 58 Christian Palestinian families, close to a monastery and its sister convent and school. 17. In 2007 the General Assembly decided, by its resolution ES-10/17, to establish the United Nations Register of Damage Caused by the Construction of the Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which is mandated to record damage caused to all natural and legal persons concerned as a result of the construction of the wall by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in and around East Jerusalem. 18. The registration of damage is a technical, fact-finding process of listing or recording the fact and type of the damage caused as a result of the construction of the wall. It thus entails a detailed process that includes the submission of a statement setting out the alleged damage, eligibility for registration and the causality between the construction of the wall and the damage sustained. The Registry is not, however, a compensation commission or a claims-resolution facility, nor is it a judicial or quasi-judicial body. The act of registration of damage, as such, does not entail an evaluation or an assessment of the loss or damage (see A/ES-10/294, para. 1). 19. During the reporting period, the Registrar continued to collect, process and consider claim forms for inclusion in the Register in accordance with the rules and regulations governing the registration of claims. Since the Registry was launched in 2008, outreach efforts have covered 226 communities with a population of approximately 909,000 in the governorates of Jenin, Tubas, Tulkarem, Qalqiliya, Salfit, Ramallah, Hebron and Bethlehem, as well as in and around East Jerusalem.6 As at 19 June 2015, more than 48,048 5 6 United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, “UN officials call for an immediate demolitions freeze” (19 August 2015). See A/ES-10/683 for details on work carried out between 20 June 2014 and 19 June 2015. 5