Azzoun under Curfew

At 3:45 AM the 24th of Dec the Israeli Occupation Force (IOF) invaded Azzoun, once again imposing curfew in the Palestinian village without any reason. A large number of military vehicles and soldiers were spread out all over the village, randomly attacking civilian Palestinians with teargas, sound bombs and rubber bullets.

During the curfew IOF closed the centre of the city, not even allowing the ambulance to drive on the main road. A Palestinian family got permission to drive to their home in the old city, but despite the permission Israeli soldiers opened fire at the car. The front window of the car was hit with four rubber bullets. The parents and their 6 children (the youngest only two years old) got away with only minor injuries from glass splinters.



A Palestinian man was arrested while walking the 30 meters from his home to the mosque for afternoon pray. He was arrested for about 7 hours, almost all the time being blindfolded and handcuffed and repeatedly beaten and threatened by the soldiers. Another Palestinian man was shot in his head with a rubber bullet, something which, if you are unlucky, could be fatal. This man was lucky and could return home the same evening after being treated at the town's medical centre.




During the curfew Israeli soldiers also shot and destroyed a major transformer, leaving parts of the city without electricity for about 15 hours.

After approximately two and a half hours the army left the village, the main gate to Azzoun remained closed during the night but was reopened the following day.

Azzoun is a village with about 11000 inhabitants, situated close to Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank, and the village has been subject to repeated curfews since the end of October this year. IOF justifies these curfews by claiming that youths are throwing stones when Israeli army vehicles enter the town. Residents, however, suspect the curfews are implemented to facilitate construction of the second stage of the apartheid wall that separates Palestinians from illegal Israeli settlements, and which confiscates many thousands of dunums of Palestinian land.