Twelve Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military in April, according to Ali Kazak, the Palestine Liberation Organisation representative in Australia. The youngest, a child of four, was deliberately struck by a military vehicle.
Ten of the dead were shot at close range. One person was suffocated by gas thrown by Israeli troops.
During the month, 66 Palestinian women suffered miscarriages as a result of being shot, beaten or gassed. Six hundred and twenty-five Palestinians were wounded by live or rubber bullets, beatings, gas or being struck by military vehicles.
Kazak challenged "the Australian government's and media's deafening silence on Israel's continuous refusal to adhere to UN resolutions to withdraw from occupied Palestine and other Arab territories, its crimes against humanity, confiscation of Palestinian lands and its continued building of illegal settlements".
Other Israeli actions during April included the confiscation of more than 250 hectares of Palestinian lands in the West Bank and Gaza, the bulldozing of crops and the uprooting of olive and fruit trees to make way for Israeli settlements.
The mosque in Beitunia village was closed by the military, who also demolished 25 Palestinian homes and sealed another five.