11 Preface It is a pleasure to present the ICHR 28th Annual Report on the Status of Human Rights in the State of Palestine. The report documents both positive and negative human rights developments in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip in 2022. It is based on a normative framework that draws on human rights conventions, which the State of Palestine acceded to, as well as on the Palestinian Basic Law. As the principal violator of collective and individual Palestinian rights, the Israeli occupying regime persists with its expansionist colonial practices and policies. The occupation remains the first and foremost obstacle, which deprives Palestinian citizens from enjoying their basic political, civil, economic and social rights, right to liberty and security of person, and right to life. The Israeli occupying authorities continue unceasing repressive, aggressive and military actions against the Gaza Strip. Starting on 5 August 2022, a threeday Israeli offensive directly and deliberately targeted civilians, civilian objects, populated areas, and infrastructure. This was in flagrant violation of the principles of International Law and International Humanitarian Law (IHL), particularly the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (Geneva Convention IV) of 1949. The Israeli military aggression resulted in the killing of 49 Palestinians, including 19 children and four women, and injury of at least 360 others. The humanitarian crisis was further compounded by limited capacities of medical personnel at hospitals as a consequence of a 16 year long Israeli siege on Gaza. Grounded in a racist policy, Israel has maintained its expansionist colonial measures. The West Bank has seen a serious escalation of land grab and territorial fragmentation by military checkpoints. The Israeli occupying forces (IOF) raided CSOs and educational institutions. Along this vein, the IOF raided Birzeit University and arrested a number of students. Extra-judicial killings were also on an upward trajectory. Popular resistance has not been spared from oppression of the Israeli occupying authorities. An Israeli Police vehicle ran over and crushed the body of Suleiman al-Hathalin, 80 years old, while he was defending his land and community of Um al-Kheir. The IOF also extra-judicially killed Ghada Sabatin, a 47-year-old woman, and Mohammed Hasan Assaf, a 34-year-old lawyer. Both were killed in cold blood. Jerusalem has also witnessed a sharp escalation. In addition to repeated raids into the grounds of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the IOF violated freedom of access to places of worship, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Israeli occupying authorities reinstated the policy of transfer and deportation. A case in point was Salah Hammouri, a Jerusalemite lawyer Executive Summary 2022