The Palestine Chronology

In the West Bank, Israeli settlers raid Arab al-Milehat, stealing nearly 30 sheep. Israeli forces uproot 50 trees in Sarta while preparing to build a settler road. Israeli forces also raid Jenin, assaulting 2 Palestinians. Israeli forces arrest 15 Palestinians during raids in and around Hebron, Nablus, Jericho, Jenin, and Ramallah. In Jerusalem, Israelis raid and vandalize a Muslim shrine, declaring it a Jewish holy site. Israeli forces install a watchtower fitted with surveillance camaras at the Haram al-Sharif compound. In Gaza, Israeli forces bomb Gaza City, Khan Yunis, Rafah, Dayr al-Balah, and Beit Lahiya, killing at least 86 people. Israeli forces also kill 10 Palestinians waiting to receive aid in Gaza City. The Red Crescent evacuates 24 people from al-Amal Hospital and delivers water and food to the hospital. In Lebanon, Hezbollah attacks Israeli forces in Manara and Malkia. Israeli forces kill 2 Hezbollah members near the Syrian border. (AJ, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA 2/25; AJ, UNOCHA, WAFA, WAFA 2/26)

More than 29,692 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza, including at least 12,000 children and 7,200 women, and around 69,879 have been injured since 10/7/2023. At least 8,000 people are missing in rubble, including 1,700 children. 399 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 10/7/2023, including 102 children. More than 4,545 people have been injured. Israel reports that 1,139 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed and 5,400 have been injured in Israel since 10/7/2023, including Israeli soldiers. In addition, 237 Israeli soldiers have been killed and 1,396 injured in Gaza since the ground invasion began on 10/27/2023. Over 1.93 million Palestinians, nearly 85% of the population of Gaza, have been displaced since 10/7/2023. There has been a complete electricity blackout in Gaza since 10/12/2023 due to the Israeli blockade. At least 70,000 housing units have been destroyed and 290,000 have been damaged in Israeli airstrikes since 10/7/2023, constituting over 60% of all housing units. 94 trucks carrying aid enter Gaza. (WAFA 2/25; UNOCHA, UNOCHA 2/26)

The Israeli military says it has withdrawn from the Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis. (AJ 2/25)

The Gaza Media Office accuses Israel of 19 different war crimes, including deliberate killings, torture, forced displacement, hostage-taking, using hunger as a weapon of war, bombing homes, schools, and places of worship, targeting heritage sites, and targeting medical centers. (AJ 2/25)

PA president Mahmoud Abbas meets Jordanian king Abdullah II in Amman. (WAFA 2/25)

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells CBS News that the Israeli invasion of Rafah will happen regardless of a ceasefire deal, saying a deal would only delay the invasion. The war cabinet discusses the plans for the ground invasion of Rafah and ceasefire negotiations. An Israeli delegation is said to be traveling to Doha for continued talks next week. Israel’s Channel 12 News reports that Netanyahu added a new demand to the recently concluded U.S., Israeli, Egyptian, and Qatari ceasefire talks, stipulating that high-profile prisoners released in the exchange are deported to Qatar. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says Israel will continue attacking Lebanon even if a ceasefire deal is reached in Gaza. (AP, NYT 2/24; AJ, AJ, AP, AP, HA, HA, NYT, NYT, REU, REU 2/25; AJ, AJ, HA, WAFA 2/26)

Aaron Bushnell, an active-duty soldier from the U.S. Air Force wearing his uniform self-immolates outside of the Israeli embassy in Washington D.C. In a livestream, Bushnell says that he “no longer will be complicit in genocide” and that he is doing an extreme act of protest which he says is not extreme in comparison to what people are experiencing in Palestine “at the hands of the colonizers.” As he burns, he chants “free Palestine.” Bushnell later dies in hospital. Bushnell is the second person to self-immolate outside of an Israeli diplomatic post in the U.S. An unidentified woman holding a Palestinian flag self-immolated outside of the Israeli consulate in Atlanta in December 2023. (AJ, HA, NYT 2/25; AJ, AJ, AP, WAFA 2/26; AP 2/27)

UN General Assembly president Dennis Francis calls on UN members to provide “sustainable and predictable financial and political support” to UNRWA. UNRWA commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini says food aid has not been delivered to northern Gaza since 1/23. (AJ, WAFA 2/25; AJ 2/26

The information ministers of the OIC hold an extraordinary session in Turkey, condemning Israel’s genocide in Gaza and calling for an unconditional ceasefire. (WAFA 2/24; AJ, WAFA 2/25)

Haaretz reports that the Israeli Population and Immigration Authority is refusing to grant visas to employees of international NGOs operating in the West Bank and Gaza. (HA 2/25)

The New York Times says it is reviewing Israeli freelance journalist Anat Schwartz, who has contributed to the Times’ coverage of Hamas, for liking a tweet on X calling for turning Gaza “into a slaughterhouse.” (AJ 2/25)

In the West Bank, Israeli forces demolish a slaughterhouse and 3 other structures in Barta‘a village near Jenin. Meanwhile, IDF troops patrol near Jenin. In East Jerusalem, Israeli forces demolish a print shot in Silwan, sparking clashes with stone-throwing residents of the neighborhood; 8 Palestinians are injured and 3 are arrested. Palestinians throw stones at Israeli settlers on a bus near the Pisgat Ze’ev settlement, injuring 1. (MNA, WAFA 8/29; MNA, PCHR 8/30)

In the West Bank, around 1,000 right-wing Jewish activists visit Joseph’s Tomb nr. Nablus late at night, sparking clashes between their IDF escort and stone-throwing Palestinians; at least 3 Palestinians are injured. Earlier, an Israeli settler driver rams a Palestinian youth in Hebron, moderately injuring her. Israeli forces demolish 6 residential structures and an animal barn in a village s. of Hebron early in the morning, displacing 35 Palestinians. They also close a checkpoint nr. Ramallah for several hours in the afternoon, and demolish a poultry slaughterhouse and automobile workshop in a village nr. Ramallah late at night. IDF troops raid a printing house in a village nr. Bethlehem, damaging property; conduct late-night raids and house searches in and around Hebron and nr. Ramallah and Jenin, arresting 7 Palestinians, issuing an arrest summons to 1, and destroying some property; patrol nr. Hebron and Jenin, as well as in Tulkarm. In East Jerusalem, Israeli forces uproot and burn 47 olive tree saplings in Silwan. A Palestinian family demolishes part of its own apartment in Bayt Hanina to avoid paying the municipality’s demolition fees. (MNA, WAFA 4/6; MNA, PCHR, WAFA 4/7; PCHR 4/14)

The Israeli govt. announces that the IEC’s power cuts in the West Bank will end indefinitely. Earlier in the day, the PA, IEC, JDECO, and MK Odeh (Joint List) reached a temporary agreement that will see JDECO pay NIS 60 m. ($15.7 m.) to the IEC by 4/12, the PA transfer NIS 20 m. ($5.2 m.) immediately, and govern negotiations to resolve further disputes over tariffs and interest rates. (HA, JP, MNA, TOI 4/6)

For the 2d day in a row, the IEC cuts off power to a major West Bank city, this time affecting parts of Hebron from 9:00 A.M. to 10:00 A.M. and 2:00 P.M. to 3:00 P.M. It is the 3d time the IEC has implemented its plan to intermittently and punitively disrupt power supplies to areas of the West Bank in response to unpaid debts. (HA, JP, MNA 4/5)

Along Gaza’s border, IDF troops open fire on Palestinian farmers working nr. Rafah, causing no injuries. Israeli forces conduct a limited incursion to level land nearby. In the West Bank, Israeli forces demolish a slaughterhouse, a balcony, and a water well in a village nr. Bethlehem and force a number of Palestinian shops to close in a village nr. Nablus, arresting 2 Palestinians who allegedly threw stones at them. IDF troops also conduct latenight raids and house searches in Nablus and nr. Hebron arresting 9 Palestinians and issuing arrest summons to 2; take measurements and photographs of a home nr. Hebron, threatening punitive demolition; and patrol nr. Qalqilya, Jenin, and Hebron. Israeli settlers enter a village nr. Nablus late at night, sparking clashes with stone-throwing Palestinians; 1 Palestinian is injured. Meanwhile, Palestinian youths throw Molotov cocktails at Israeli forces on a patrol nr. Ramallah; there are no serious injuries. In East Jerusalem, Israeli forces raid al-Quds University in Abu Dis, destroying and confiscating property, and issue an arrest summons for a Palestinian journalist during a raid in al-Thawri. Israeli police arrest 2 right-wing Jewish activists attempting to sneak into Haram al-Sharif disguised as Muslims. (MNA, WAFA 4/5; MNA 4/6; PCHR 4/7)

The day after Israeli PM Netanyahu invited him to Jerusalem for a face-to-face meeting, PA pres. Abbas says that he is prepared to work with Israel to stop and monitor “mutual incitement,” calling for the reinstatement of the joint Palestinian-Israeli-U.S. comm. for monitoring incitement, which was established as part of the Wye River Memorandum in 1998 and met regularly until 9/2000. (JP 4/5; TOI 4/6)

An Islamic Jihad fighter in Gaza succumbs to injuries sustained while fighting the IDF in 2006. Meanwhile, dozens of Gazans gather in front of UNRWA’s offices in Rafah to protest a perceived lack of support. In s. Israel, Israeli police raid a slaughterhouse in a village nr. Beersheba, arresting more than 100 Palestinians from the West Bank working without proper permits. In the West Bank, Israeli forces deliver a stop-work order to a workshop under construction nr. Hebron. IDF troops conduct late-night house searches and raids in and around Ramallah, Qalqilya, Hebron, Nablus, and Jenin, arresting 19 Palestinians and issuing arrest summons to 2; patrol nr. Hebron, Salfit, and Ramallah. (MNA, WAFA 3/28; PCHR 3/31)

Israeli PM Netanyahu instructs Defense Minister (DM) Moshe Ya’alon to stop returning to the PA or their families bodies of Palestinians killed after committing serious crimes against Israelis. Sources in Netanyahu’s office refuse to comment on his motivation. (ALM, JP 3/28; HA, TOI 3/29)

A senior Fatah official reported on the Hamas and Fatah national reconciliation efforts following 2 days of talks in Doha on 3/26–27. He says they agreed to form a national unity govt. comprising Hamas, Fatah, and other factions, and to hold legislative and presidential elections within 6 mos. In addition, they agreed that a new unity govt. would work according to the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) guidelines (i.e., pursuing a 2-state solution by way of negotiations). Other reports say that the talks produced only 1 agreement: to not discuss the talks with the media. (TOI 3/28; JP 3/29)