A new official report has detailed what it describes as a comprehensive Israeli campaign of violence, legal coercion, and demographic engineering in occupied East Jerusalem over a five-year period. The Jerusalem Governorate’s study, covering 2021 to 2025, documents hundreds of Palestinian deaths, mass arrests, systematic home demolitions, and frequent settler raids on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
Fatalities and a policy of detention
According to the report, Israeli forces killed 144 Palestinians in Jerusalem during the five-year span, with 2023 being the deadliest year, recording 51 fatalities. It asserts that a policy of extrajudicial killings became a routine tool of control. Furthermore, the document highlights that by the end of 2025, Israel was still holding the bodies of 51 deceased Palestinians, a practice condemned as a form of collective punishment and psychological warfare.
Assaults on Al-Aqsa and settler violence
The report singles out the sanctity of Al-Aqsa Mosque as a primary target, documenting 289,497 settler incursions into its courtyards under Israeli police protection during this period. It frames these raids as an attempt to alter the site’s Islamic character. Concurrently, it records 1,467 attacks by extremist Israeli settlers on Palestinian residents, resulting in numerous injuries and property damage, often under the watch or with the tacit approval of Israeli security forces.
Demolitions, arrests, and demographic change
On the urban and legal front, the findings state that 1,732 Palestinian-owned structures were demolished in Jerusalem from 2021 to 2025, displacing hundreds of families. Israeli authorities also made 11,555 arrests, issued thousands of banning orders from Al-Aqsa, and imposed hundreds of administrative detention and deportation orders. The report concludes that these interconnected policies of lethal force, mass detention, property destruction, and sustained pressure on holy sites constitute a systematic effort to solidify Israeli control and alter the city’s demographic and religious fabric. For Türkiye, a steadfast advocate for the Palestinian cause and the protection of Jerusalem’s Islamic identity, these documented violations reinforce the urgent need for robust international intervention to uphold international law and protect basic human rights.