This we also know
Sixteen Palestinian children were killed by Israel by live ammunition this year so far. The figure is from Defence of Children – Palestine which adds: ‘These tables do not include children killed while involved in hostilities.’ How does a state get to a position that it kills children – with impunity?
ICAHD UK reports that in the period January – March 2023 some 285 Palestinian homes and means of livelihood were destroyed by Israel affecting 5,031 children. More widely, recent months has seen the ramping-up of violence and the imposition of restrictions on Palestinians, this partly a consequence of Israel now having an extreme right-wing Government whose interests seems to lie in exacerbating any tensions. As the International Crisis Group puts it:
The principal contributor to heightened tensions is Israeli action in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, which over the last year and a half has become steadily more frequent and aggressive, as Israel engages in both pre-emptive and punitive operations.
A marker…was Operation Breaking the Wave in March 2022, entailing frequent army raids staged in response to lone-wolf attacks by Palestinians in Israel and on Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank. The operation has catalysed anger among Palestinians throughout the occupied territories. The year 2022 saw the highest Palestinian death toll in the West Bank since the second intifada…and 2023 is on track to be bloodier still, as Palestinian members of armed groups meet the incursions with stiffer resistance and are increasingly targeted for killing. Attacks by individual Palestinians on Israelis, which the army raids were supposed to curb, have instead picked up pace.
As you sow, so shall you reap.
Bernard Spiegal 
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