A/HRC/40/39 I. Introduction 1. Submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolutions S-9/1 and S-12/1, the present report provides an overview of the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory for the period from 1 November 2017 to 31 October 2018. 2. The information contained in the report is drawn mainly from human rights monitoring activities conducted by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It also reflects information obtained from government sources, other United Nations entities, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The report should be read in conjunction with other relevant reports submitted by the Secretary-General to the General Assembly and by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to the Human Rights Council. 1 3. During the reporting period, violence resulted in a high number of casualties in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Widespread protests and demonstrations, often escalating into clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces, followed the statement of the President of the United States of America, on 6 December 2017, on Jerusalem. Those demonstrations, which continued until the end of February 2018 in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, were met with an often excessive response by Israeli security forces, resulting in the death of 28 Palestinians2 and over 7,000 injured.3 A new round of demonstrations, referred to as the Great March of Return, began in Gaza on 30 March 2018 and continued throughout the reporting period. In that context, 169 Palestinian demonstrators were killed and over 24,000 injured by Israeli security forces. 4 Hostilities between Israel and armed groups in Gaza escalated on several occasions, causing 65 Palestinian fatalities. During the reporting period, 274 Palestinians, including 50 children, were killed by Israeli security forces in the West Bank and Gaza, and 11 Israelis (7 civilians and 4 members of Israeli security forces) were killed by Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.5 4. The Israeli blockade and closures of Gaza entered their twelfth year, with further movement restrictions introduced. Severe punitive measures by authorities of the State of Palestine on Gaza compounded an ever-deteriorating humanitarian situation and worsening de-development. Amid the intra-Palestinian political divide, over 100 alleged Hamas affiliates were arrested and many of them administratively detained in the West Bank at the end of September. In Gaza, the authorities continued to arbitrarily arrest and detain Fatah affiliates. 5. Israel failed to uphold its full human rights and international humanitarian law obligations as the occupying Power. Settlement expansion continued at a fast pace and several communities remained at a risk of forcible transfer. Demolitions and evictions, movement restrictions and practices of collective punishment continued. Settler violence significantly increased, with the Israeli authorities frequently failing to sufficiently protect the Palestinian population or ensure accountability for the perpetrators of violence. Concerns remained over the detention practices of Israel, including the use of administrative detention. Freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly came under increasing pressure, with Israel taking measures to limit a number of critical voices. 6. In the West Bank and Gaza there were serious concerns regarding arbitrary detention and ill-treatment, in some cases amounting to torture, by Palestinian authorities. There was a marked deterioration in protection of the freedom of expression and of assembly. This included the violent dispersal by Palestinian security forces of a peaceful demonstration in Ramallah on 13 June 2018. 1 2 3 4 5 2 A/73/410, A/73/420, A/HRC/40/42 and A/HRC/40/43. OHCHR monitoring. See www.palestinercs.org/index.php?langid=1&page=post&pid=24351&catid=4&parentid=11186. Figures provided by the Ministry of Health of the State of Palestine. Information provided by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).