The Night Visitors

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Palestinian hospital security guard checks the room where Israeli special forces killed 27 year old Abdallah Shalaldeh and arrested his cousin at the Al-Ahli hospital in the West Bank city of Hebron. Shalaldeh was shot dead by Israeli special forces during a raid to arrest his cousin Azzam 

 Shalaldeh: photo by Abed Al Hashlamoun/EPA, 12 November 2015

 

 

Palestinian hospital security guard checks the room where Israeli special forces killed 27 year old Abdallah Shalaldeh and arrested his cousin at the Al-Ahli hospital in the West Bank city of Hebron. Shalaldeh was shot dead by Israeli special forces during a raid to arrest his cousin Azzam 

 Shalaldeh: photo by Abed Al Hashlamoun/EPA, 12 November 2015

 

Wolf in Sheep's clothing: photo by Christopher Lucas, 24 March 2015

Israeli undercover forces raid hospital in West Bank, kill Palestinian: image via Reuters Top News @Reuters, 12 November 2015

Israel/OPT: Investigate apparent extrajudicial execution at Hebron hospital: Press Release, Amnesty International, 12 November 2015

The killing of a 28-year-old Palestinian man by Israeli forces during a raid on al-Ahli hospital in Hebron in the early hours of Thursday morning may amount to an extrajudicial execution, Amnesty International said today.

Eyewitnesses report that a large group of Israeli soldiers and police entered the hospital at 2.43am disguised as Palestinian civilians, with some wearing keffiyehs and fake beards and another being pushed in a wheelchair dressed as a pregnant woman. According to two witnesses Amnesty International spoke to, they entered a room on the third floor of the hospital where 20-year-old Azzam Azmi Shalaldah was a patient, to arrest him on suspicion of stabbing an Israeli civilian on 25 October.

When they entered the room where the patient was in bed, they immediately shot his cousin, Abdullah Azzam Shalaldah, at least three times, including in the head and upper body.

“The fact that Abdullah Shalaldah was shot in the head and upper body suggests this was an extrajudicial execution, adding to a disturbing pattern of similar recent incidents by Israeli forces in the West Bank which warrant urgent investigation,” said Philip Luther, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International.

“Israeli forces must immediately cease their use of intentional lethal force against people who are not posing an imminent threat to life.”

A witness said that Abdullah Shalaldah, who had been accompanying his cousin in the hospital and sleeping in the room, had gone to the bathroom and had just come out when Israeli forces burst into the room and shot him. The Israeli forces then threatened another patient at gunpoint, handcuffed another relative to a bed and then left the hospital with Azzam Shalaldah in a wheelchair.

Unlawful and deliberate killings carried out by order of government or military officials, or with their complicity or acquiescence, amount to extrajudicial executions, which are prohibited at all times and are crimes under international law.

The Israeli military released a statement saying that Abdullah Shalaldah had attacked Israeli forces, but did not specify whether he was armed. Witnesses report that he was not armed, was some metres away from the soldiers and police and had not attempted to attack them. There was no attempt to arrest Abdullah Shalaldah, according to the witnesses, or to use non-lethal alternatives before shooting him dead.

The killing of Abdullah Shalaldah is the latest in a pattern of killings by Israeli forces which Amnesty International considers to have been unlawful. Since the beginning of October there has been a dramatic increase in the number of attacks by Palestinians on Israeli civilians, soldiers and police. Attacks on civilians are never justified, but Israeli forces have responded with intentional lethal use of force in many cases where it was not warranted. The Israeli military’s own regulations allow soldiers in the occupied West Bank to open fire only when their lives are in imminent danger. It appears that this was not the case in the shooting of Abdullah Shalaldah, as he was unarmed.

Israeli forces have killed at least 18 Palestinians in and around the city of Hebron in recent weeks, including in cases that appear to be extrajudicial executions, and accordingly should be the subject of prompt, thorough and impartial investigations with a view to prosecution as criminal offences.

On 6 November Israeli forces shot and killed 72-year-old Tharwat al-Sharawi, alleging that she intended to ram them with her car. A video of the incident shows the car which she was driving heading towards the soldiers at a speed slow enough to allow the soldiers to jump out of the way and then begin shooting heavily at the car. Tharwat al-Sharawi’s son has said that his mother was on her way to lunch when she was killed. Amnesty International considers that even if Tharwat-al-Sharami did intend to carry out a ramming attack, the military has itself acknowledged that soldiers only began firing after jumping out of the way of the car. This means that the imminent danger had passed and accordingly that the use of lethal force was unlawful.

On 29 October Mahdi al-Muhtasib, 23, was shot by Israeli forces after reportedly lightly wounding an Israeli soldier in a stabbing attack in Hebron. Video of the aftermath of the incident shows Mahdi al-Muhtasib writhing in pain on the ground before an Israeli soldier, standing a distance of some metres away, shoots him again. The video shows that Mahdi al-Muhtasib was plainly wounded, and posed no threat whatsoever to the soldier. 

Moreover, shooting a wounded person is a wilful killing in grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

“Israeli forces have a long history of carrying out unlawful killings in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including extrajudicial executions,” said Philip Luther.

“While the number of attacks by Palestinians on Israeli civilians, soldiers and police has increased significantly since the beginning of October, there is never any excuse for the Israeli military and police forces using lethal force where it is not warranted.”

 Abdallah Shaladeh SHOT DEAD IN THE HEAD by Israeli undercover soldiers inside A Hospital. He was visiting a relative: image via Dr Basel - Palestine @DrBaselAbuwarda, 12 November 2015

Mourners at the funeral of a man killed by Israeli undercover forces in a raid at Al-Ahli hospital, in the West Bank: photo by Mussa Issa Qawasma/Reuters, 12 November 2015

 

Abdullah was shot in his temple his chest & x3 in the arm and shoulder #Hebron #hospital: image via Middle East Eye @MiddleEastEye, 12 November 2015

Undercover Israeli forces kill Palestinian inside West Bank hospital: Israeli forces were filmed raiding the hospital in disguise before taking away a patient and killing his cousin: Sheren Khalel and Abed al Qaisi, Middle East Eye, 12 November 2015

HEBRON, West Bank - Dressed in an array of Palestinian disguises, undercover Israeli forces stormed Ahli Hospital during the early hours of Thursday morning and arrested Azaam Shalaalda from his bed, shooting his cousin dead in the process.

Part of the incident was caught on a security camera in one of the main halls of the hospital. The footage, released online by hospital employees, shows at least 20 agents rush through the hospital halls with handguns drawn.

Azaam, the young man who was arrested, was in the hospital getting treatment for an attack that happened around a month previously. Locals said he was shot nine times by Israeli settlers while picking olives on his family farm in his village of Saeer in northern Hebron last month.

According to witnesses, Azaal’s cousins, Abdullah and Bilal Shalaalda, were staying overnight at the hospital, when the undercover forces barged into the room.

Bilal was sleeping when the forces stormed the hospital room, but his cousin Abdullah, 20, was in the bathroom washing up before early morning prayers.

"I just saw 10 people barge into the room, it was kind of chaos, it all happened in a matter of seconds, Abdullah, my cousin, came out of the bathroom to see what was going on and they shot him immediately, the second the door opened," Bilal said.

Abdullah was shot once in his temple, once near his chest, and three times in the arm and shoulder. At the same time forces had rushed to Bilal and Azaam, restraining both of them.

"They put a cloth around my mouth so I couldn't speak, and handcuffed me to the bed while the whole thing happened," Bilal said. “Abdullah was still alive, bleeding on the ground but there was nothing I could do, they didn’t call for a doctor, he just laid there bleeding out while I was handcuffed and gagged.”

The forces moved to take Azaal, who was receiving treatment at the hospital, out of his bed and into a wheelchair to be taken away.

Bilal at his cousin's funeral: photo by Abed al-Qaisi / Middle East Eye, 12 November 2015

Bilal told Middle East Eye that he was still in shock from what happened, and described it as “like something from a film”.

"They were so professional, they knew exactly where they were going and what they were doing," Bilal said. "There is zero doubt in my mind about what happened, these were undercover Israeli agents committing a well-planned operation. They didn't plan for my cousin to come out of that bathroom, but they immediately shot him, they used silencers, they were trained soldiers."

Bilal swears he has no idea why Israeli forces came to arrest his cousin in the first place.

Doctor Jihad Shaoor, the director of Ahli hospital, told MEE that Azaal had been in critical condition when he was admitted last month and that he had since undergone a series of surgeries to remove nine bullets and reconstruct his windpipe and that he had been in hospital recovering at the time of his abduction.

Shaoor said he believed taking Azaal out of the hospital could have serious effects on his health and recovery.

“First, Azaal was in no way ready to leave the hospital,” the doctor said. “And second, it is insane that these men are allowed to come in and just do whatever they want. This is a hospital, it is against the law to bring guns into the hospital here, even our security does not have guns, a hospital is a place for healing, and that has to be respected, but it is not.”

While Shaoor said there was a Palestinian Authority police officer standing guard, in addition to the hospital’s private security, the family of Abdullah claim the PA police had intentionally not been guarding the hospital that night.

The hospital is in Area A. According to the Oslo Accords this means that it is under the full security coordination of the PA, and any Israeli incursion into the area needs to be carried out with the approval of the PA. However, it is unknown if such coordination through the proper channels was made.

Shaoor said the undercover agents entered the hospital dressed as Palestinians with what looked like a pregnant woman who was in labour and another man in a wheelchair.

Once the agents gained access to the main hall, near the ward where Azaal was being treated, the doctor said that they drew their guns and dropped their cover.

Just hours after the incident, Abdullah was laid to rest following midday prayers in Saeer village. Hundreds of people filled the streets to march for their "martyr" and to pay their respects to the family.

Mourners chanted slogans against the occupation, while walking with the body of Abdullah, tightly wrapped in a green Hamas flag and traditional Palestinian scarf. While his death was sudden and unexpected, people from villages miles away made it in time to attend the young man’s funeral.

The incident at Ahli hospital is the second of its kind in the last two months. In early October, Israeli forces raided al-Arabi hospital in the northern occupied West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinian news agency Maan News reported at the time.

During the undercover raid, another Palestinian man was arrested from his hospital room.

Um Abdullah, Abdullah's mother, speaks to MEE after her son's funeral: photo by Abed al-Qaisi / Middle East Eye, 12 November 2015

The agency has also reported multiple incidents of Israeli forces raiding al-Makkasad hospital in occupied East Jerusalem, one of which involved undercover forces attempting to obtain medical records of young men shot and injured during clashes in the city.

Um Abdullah, Abdullah's mother, told MEE that she feels now that Palestinians have nowhere to feel safe.

“They killed my son, they shot my son dead inside a hospital,” she said through tears. 

“What kind of people bring something like this to a hospital? If we aren't safe in a hospital then there is no place in all of Palestine we can be safe.”

Abdullah Shalaalda, 20, was shot and killed by Israeli forces on Thursday: photo by Abed al-Qaisi / Middle East Eye, 12 November 2015

Palestinian shot dead in Israeli undercover raid on West Bank hospital: Peter Beaumont in Hebron for The Guardian, 12 November 2015

Israeli forces disguised in Palestinian clothes -– including one impersonating a pregnant woman in a wheelchair -– have raided a hospital in the flashpoint city of Hebron, shooting dead a relative of a man suspected of carrying out a stabbing attack.

The operation, involving two dozen undercover soldiers and Shin Bet agents – some wearing fake beards -– took place in the early hours of Thursday morning.

During the raid, patients on the third floor of the al-Ahly hospital were confined to their wards. Hospitals are customarily regarded in conflicts as protected locations, even for enemy combatants.

The armed swoop –- the second by Israeli forces on a Palestinian hospital this year -– saw 27-year-old Abdallah Shalaldeh killed as he emerged from a bathroom in the ward where his cousin, Azzam, a Hamas member, was being treated for gunshot wounds.

The Israeli army confirmed the raid and shooting. It said Azzam Shalaldeh was suspected of stabbing an Israeli settler two weeks ago in the West Bank.

Hospital staff and eyewitnesses –- including another relative of the two men –- said troops had entered the hospital with guns hidden beneath the person pretending to be pregnant.
Jihad Shawar, the hospital’s director, said: “The undercover forces arrived at about 2.50 in the morning. There were 20-30 of them. They came to the main door pretending to be relatives of a woman going into labour and wanted to take her to surgery.

“When they got into the reception area the woman stood up and they produced guns, including some hidden underneath her on the wheel chair. They went straight to the room on the third floor where Azzam Shalaldeh, who had been treated here since 25 October, was staying.

“They handcuffed his brother [Bilal Shalaldeh] with a belt. But when his cousin Abdallah came out of a bathroom on the ward they shot him five times before taking Azzam in the wheelchair they had brought. This is an outright crime. No one should violate hospitals.”

According to the Israeli authorities, Azzam Shalaldeh was being treated at the hospital for gunshot wounds, which the military said were sustained when the Israeli he allegedly stabbed last month shot him.

It said he was about 20 and from a family of “known Hamas operatives”.

Israel said Abdallah Shalaldeh was shot dead after grappling with soldiers -- a claim denied by some Palestinian witnesses, who said he was shot as he left the bathroom. Others quoted anonymously in the Israeli media said there had been a scuffle.

Video footage of the incident shows about a dozen men walking down a hospital corridor, pushing someone covered in a blanket in a wheelchair. The person in the wheelchair flings the blanket off, stands up and, with the others, draws a gun and continues walking.

On the ward where Abdallah Shalaldeh was shot, a large pool of blood was visible on Thursday.

Mohammad Mayata was in a neighbouring room when he heard the shots. “I looked out the door and saw two people, one had a pistol and the other an M16,” he said. “When he saw me he said get inside or I’ll shoot you. When they had gone I came out and found a man lying in a pool of blood.”

Nidal Abdul Mutalib, 48, was also on the third floor when the soldiers entered. “I heard terrifying shots and panicked. I went outside. There was a man with a white beard and prayer cap shouting ‘Army! Army! Go back inside!’. The whole thing took eight to 10 minutes. I peeked out again and saw them taking away an injured man in a wheelchair with something covering his head.”

The footage also show the Israeli forces pushing a man in a wheelchair, apparently the suspect, back down the hall, as perplexed nurses look on.

Speaking at Abdallah Shalaldeh’s funeral in the village of Sair outside Hebron later in the day, his cousin Bilal Shalaldeh described the raid. “It was around 3am and I was asleep when a large number of undercover soldiers arrived. They put the other patients in the corner and tied my hands with a belt. When Abdallah came out of the bathroom where he was washing his hands in preparation for morning prayers they shot him and left him to bleed on the floor.”

Last month, a group of men posing as Palestinian protesters and mingling with rock throwers in the West Bank were filmed suddenly drawing their weapons and arresting a protester.

The raid came amid ongoing violence that has lasted nearly two months. Twelve Israelis have been killed in a spate of attacks by Palestinians, while 78 Palestinians -- 50 of them said by Israel to be attackers -- have been killed.

The recent violence first erupted in Jerusalem over tensions surrounding a holy site sacred to both Jews and Muslims and quickly spread throughout Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Hebron, the largest West Bank city, has been a particular flashpoint. Several hundred Jewish settlers live in fortified enclaves in the city, amid tens of thousands of Palestinians.

In a statement defending, Shin Bet said it would “not permit terror operatives to hide in any places of refuge”.

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, a non-profit rights group, accused Israeli forces of repeatedly violating the special protection afforded to hospital and medical facilities. “By doing so they are putting patients, hospital staff and visitors at risk,” it added.

Containing the threat of the righteous innocents

 

Israeli medics evacuate a wounded Palestinian minor, who police said stabbed an Israeli security guard, in Pisgat Zeev, which lies on occupied land that Israel annexed to Jerusalem after the 1967 Middle East war, November 10, 2015. An Israeli police spokeswoman said two Palestinians, who she said were aged 12 to 13, stabbed a security guard on the Jerusalem light-rail train in Pisgat Zeev. The guard shot back at them wounding one: photo by Ammar Awad/Reuters, 10 November 2015

 

Palestinian protester tries to hammer a hole through the Israeli barrier that separates the West Bank town of Abu Dis from Jerusalem, as others wave Palestinian flags during clashes with Israeli troops: Ammar Awad/Reuters, 28 October 2015

Palestinian protester tries to hammer a hole through the Israeli barrier that separates the West Bank town of Abu Dis from Jerusalem, as others wave Palestinian flags during clashes with Israeli troops: Ammar Awad/Reuters, 28 October 2015

 

Israeli police lead away a Palestinian minor (C) they said stabbed an Israeli security guard in Pisgat Zeev, which lies on occupied land that Israel annexed to Jerusalem after the 1967 Middle East war, November 10, 2015. An Israeli police spokeswoman said two Palestinians, who she said were aged 12 to 13, stabbed a security guard on the Jerusalem light-rail train in Pisgat Zeev, a Jewish settlement north of Jerusalem. The guard shot back at them wounding one: photo by Ammar Awad/Reuters, 10 November 2015

Israeli forces arrested a child in alleged attempt to stab a soldier in #Jerusalem #palestineresists: image via Dr. Halina Kruk Razan-Palestine @doc_hal, 10 November 2015

Israeli forces arrested a child in alleged attempt to stab a soldier in #Jerusalem #palestineresists: image via Dr. Halina Kruk Razan-Palestine @doc_hal, 10 November 2015

Muawya Alqam 13 y/o Palestinian child was shot and arrested by Israeli Forces today in #Jerusalem #thirdintifada: image via Razan-Palestine @Razan_Tobasi, 10 November 2015

 

Muawya Alqam 13 y/o Palestinian child was shot and arrested by Israeli Forces today in #Jerusalem #thirdintifada: image via Razan-Palestine @Razan_Tobasi, 10 November 2015

Tear gas falafel (we will gas you until you all die)

Welcome to #Hebron: image via Hazem Balousha @iHaZeMi, 31 October 2015

 

Palestinian stone throwers clash with Israeli security forces (unseen) in the West Bank town of Hebron, following a demonstration to demand Israeli authorities to return the bodies of Palestinians who have been killed during attacks on Israelis: photo by Hazem Bader /AFP, 10 November 2015

 

Rabbis pose for a group photo at Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters in Brooklyn: image via Reuters Top News @Reuters 9 November 2015

 


New research has revealed that 15 percent of the total Jewish settler population in the occupied West Bank are American nationals: photo by Newsweek, 1 September 2015

Study: 60,000 Israeli West Bank Settlers Are American: While it is unclear whether this figure represents a distinct rise or fall in the number of American Jews living in the occupied West Bank, the number of West Bank settlers has risen from 110,000 to around 400,000 since the Oslo Peace Accords were signed in 1993, a 264% increase: Newswek, 1 September 2015

In a presentation to promote a forthcoming book, Oxford University scholar Sara Yael Hirschhorn revealed that approximately 60,000 Americans Jews live in Jewish outposts out of a total population of approximately 400,000 settlers in occupied territory, excluding East Jerusalem. The figure for the number of American nationals living in the West Bank was previously unknown.

“This provides hard evidence that this constituency is strikingly over-represented, both within the settler population itself and within the total population of Jewish American immigrants in Israel,” she said at the Limmud conference in Jerusalem, reported Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz.

While it is unclear whether this figure represents a distinct rise or fall in the number of American Jews living in the occupied West Bank, due to a lack of statistics, the number of West Bank settlers has risen from 110,000 to around 400,000 since the Oslo Peace Accords were signed in 1993, a 264% increase.

Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said that the new figures revealed that the settlement enterprise in the West Bank was not only an internal issue but “an international problem.”

“Unfortunately, while the Obama administration has been persistently vocal against settlement developments, some 60,000 American citizens are taking an active part in an attempt to make the two state solution impossible,” says Anat Ben Nun, Peace Now’s director of development and external relations.

“With no possibility for real bilateral negotiations in sight, the American administration must be actively involved in promoting a solution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict through the international arena,” she adds.

A section of American Christians, both conservative and fundamentalist, hold close links to Israel’s settlement enterprise, with a number of American Christian charities shown to be bank-rolling the expansion of West Bank settlements. Right-wing Christians in America and Israeli settlers have similar interpretations of biblical history -- in 2006, the evangelical Rev. John Hagee of San Antonio said  that American Christian support for Israel was “God’s foreign policy.”

Tear gas #falafel ... only in #Palestine #Hebron: image via Lazar Simeonov @LazSim, 31 October 2015

Israeli forces launch manhunt in Hebron: image via Agence France-Presse @AFP, 7 November 2015

Palestinians to bury their dead in flashpoint Hebron: image via Agence France-Presse @AFP, 31 October 2015

Five simultaneous funerals in #Hebron #Palestine: image via Lazar Simeonov @LazSim, 31 October 2015

AN ISRAELI SOLDIER IS TRYING TO STOP THE JOURNALISTS FROM COVERING THEIR CRIMES YOUUUU WILLL NEVEERRR SUCCEEEEEEED: image via Dr. Basel - Palestine @DrBaselAbuwarda, 30 October 2015

#Palestinians in #Hebron required to register in preparation of restrictions @KhamakarPress: image via paolo for #Gaza @PSogeco, 30 October 2015

#Palestinians in #Hebron required to register in preparation of restrictions @KhamakarPress: image via paolo for #Gaza @PSogeco, 30 October 2015

#Palestinians in #Hebron required to register in preparation of restrictions @KhamakarPress: image via paolo for #Gaza @PSogeco, 30 October 2015

#Palestinians in #Hebron required to register in preparation of restrictions @KhamakarPress: image via paolo for #Gaza @PSogeco, 30 October 2015

#Hebron today, marvelous scene of a massive funeral for the 5 Martyrs, #Israel detained their bodies for 2 weeks: image via Popular Struggle CC @PSCC_Palestine, 31 October 2015

 

#Hebron today, marvelous scene of a massive funeral for the 5 Martyrs, #Israel detained their bodies for 2 weeks: image via Popular Struggle CC @PSCC_Palestine, 31 October 2015

 

#Hebron today. Massive turnout for funeral of 5 Palestinians killed by Israel, who returned their bodies yesterday: image via Linah Alsaafin @Linah Alsaafin. 31 October 2015

#Hebron today. Massive turnout for funeral of 5 Palestinians killed by Israel, who returned their bodies yesterday: image via Linah Alsaafin @Linah Alsaafin. 31 October 2015

 

#Hebron today. Massive turnout for funeral of 5 Palestinians killed by Israel, who returned their bodies yesterday: image via Linah Alsaafin @Linah Alsaafin. 31 October 2015

 

#Hebron today. Massive turnout for funeral of 5 Palestinians killed by Israel, who returned their bodies yesterday: image via Linah Alsaafin @Linah Alsaafin. 31 October 2015

 

Thousands rally in #Hebron funeral procession for 5 Palestinians ‘killed by IDF’: image via RT verified account @RT_com. 31 October 2015

Palestinian baby dies from tear gas as clashes grip West Bank: image via Agence France-Presse @AFP. 30 October 2015

 

Palestinians run from Israeli troops during clashes in the West Bank city of Hebron after a protest demanding that Israel return the dead bodies of Palestinians who allegedly stabbed Israelis: photo by Mussa Issa Qawasma/Reuters, 1 November 2015

 

A relative of Palestinian Khalil Obied, who died of wounds suffered during clashes with Israeli forces, mourns during his funeral at Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. More than 80 people were wounded in clashes between Palestinians and Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip during a ‘day of rage’ called by Palestinian movements: photo by Said Khatib/AFP, 1 November 2015

we will hit you with gas until you all die

Watch shocking moment Israeli soldiers driving through refugee camp threaten by megaphone to gas Palestinians to death: screenshot via Middle East Eye, 30 October 2015

 Israeli forces threaten Palestinian refugees over loudspeaker: Soldiers announced to Aida refugee camp: 'If you throw stones, we will hit you with gas until you all die -- the youth, the children, the old people'

"They said ‘we are the occupation army’. It is proof, this is an apartheid country, it is not democratic at all.”

An Israeli military jeep rolls through Aida refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem late on 29 October 2015: screenshot via Middle East Eye, 30 October 2015

 Israeli forces threaten Palestinian refugees over loudspeaker: Soldiers announced to Aida refugee camp: 'If you throw stones, we will hit you with gas until you all die -- the youth, the children, the old people: Sheren Khalel and Abed al Qaisi, Middle East Eye, 30 October 2015

BETHLEHEM, Occupied Palestinian Territories - Yazan Ikhlayel, 17, was at a community centre in Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem when Israeli forces stormed the camp. Ikhlayel was using his iPhone to film as Israeli jeeps rolled by on one of the camp’s main roads, shooting off tear gas, when a soldier began issuing a message to residents from one of the jeep’s loudspeakers.

“People of Aida refugee camp, we are the occupation army,” the message began.

“If you throw stones, we will hit you with gas until you all die -- the youth, the children, the old people, you will all die.”

The soldier continued, speaking in Arabic and issuing more threats and insults to the people of Aida camp. But Ikhlayel says it was the first line that really shocked people.

“The most important thing I want people to see when they watch this video is to realise what the Israeli ‘democracy’ really is,” Ikhlayel told Middle East Eye.

“They have said it for us now, they are an occupation -- they said ‘we are the occupation army’. It is proof, this is an apartheid country, it is not democratic at all.”

“This is the first time I heard them say something like that over a speaker for everyone to hear,” Ikhlayel continued.

“The young people aren’t accepting what the soldiers are doing particularly now. They’re going to the streets [to protest] everyday, and they aren’t stopping. They aren’t scared of them.”

When asked if he thinks the soldier’s message would scare the youth enough to stop the protests, Ikhlayel shook his head adamantly.

“This will not stop until the occupation ends,” he insisted.

Yazan Ikhlayel speaks to MEE: photo by MEE/Abed al-Qaisi, 30 October 2015

Mohammed al-Azza is a freelance journalist from Aida refugee camp. He was in the streets taking photos during the raid on the camp on Thursday.

“What happened today wasn’t normal. The way they attacked the camp was crazy. There were protesters in the streets, yeah, but the soldiers weren’t focused on shooting tear gas at the kids protesting,” al-Azza said.

“The main thing today was to hurt the people who live in the camp more than to try and stop the protesters in the street.”

Al-Azza said he believed Israeli forces were attempting to get the community to pressure the youth to stop the protests, instead of attacking the protesters back and forth in the cat-and-mouse game between youth and Israeli forces that has been going on daily since 2 October.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve seen the soldiers get on a speaker like that,” al-Azza said.

“But really we were surprised by one word -- usually they call themselves the IDF (Israel Defence Forces), they don’t say the IOF (Israeli Occupation Forces) like we do, but that is something good for us, and for people outside the country to hear. They said it to us, ‘we are the occupation.’”

Al-Azza said he hopes people watch the video and think about what the daily reality is for Palestinians living under a military occupation.

“Usually when we talk about Palestine we are telling people abroad what happened, and it’s usually after the Israelis have done whatever they did, but now it’s good that the people can hear it from the soldiers. They said ‘we are going to kill you and we are going to do this and that’ in their message. It’s very important for international people to hear this sort of stuff that we are hearing all the time from them.”

Mohammed al-Azza speaks to MEE: photo by MEE/Abed al-Qaisi, 30 October 2015

 

Akkram Huessni and a handful of his friends were wearing gas masks, going through Aida refugee camp and helping others get to safety when the Israeli soldiers came on the loud speaker. Huessni still cannot believe what he heard, he said.

“Everyone in the camp tonight is sitting around talking about this, no one is talking about anything else tonight but what the [Israeli] soldiers said and what they did here,” Huessni said.

“It really shocked us, it is still hard for me to believe what I heard, that’s what everyone is saying too. We are really really shocked, not that they would say these things, but that they said it loud and in public,” Huessni said.

“But the really scary thing is they aren’t just saying that -- we saw today and we believe them: they want to kill people here.”

Huessni said he and his friends rescued dozens of people on Thursday who had gotten trapped in clouds of gas. At some points all he could see was white around him, he said.

“Today was the first day we really felt like we needed to get a group together to have people on the ground in every neighbourhood of the camp to make sure everyone was safe. They were shooting the gas right into homes. There was a two-month-old baby that got gassed today, he is in the hospital now with his parents,” Huessni said.

“The entire thing was shocking, yeah, what they said was crazy, but what the soldiers did too -- we are really convinced they meant what they said in that video.”

Akkram Huessni speaks to MEE: photo by MEE/Abed al-Qaisi, 30 October 2015

Aida refugee camp, Bethlehem: photo via International Middle East Media Centre, 30 October 2015

 

 Hugging her baby for the last time, was born dead after tear gas inhalation in # Bethlehem #IsraelCrimes: image via Dr. Basem Naim @basemn63, 31 October 2015

Hebron

 

#Hebron [photo Menahem Kahana]: image via Agence France-Presse @AFP, 29 October 2015

 

innocent man executed in front of witnesses in cold blood in #occupied #hebron: ISM Palestine @ISMPalestine, 28 October 2015

#spot the difference the difference btw pics planted knife after executing a #Palestinian in #Hebron #PalestineResists: image via Dr. Halina Kruk @doc_hal, 28 October 2015

 

#spot the difference the difference btw pics planted knife after executing a #Palestinian in #Hebron #PalestineResists: image via Dr. Halina Kruk @doc_hal, 28 October 2015

Unarmed youth was just shot to death, with hands in air in #Hebron near Gilbert checkpoint then a knife planted: image via Anonymous Palestine @PalAnonymous, 28 October 2015

Unarmed youth was just shot to death, with hands in air in #Hebron near Gilbert checkpoint then a knife planted: image via Anonymous Palestine @PalAnonymous, 28 October 2015

Unarmed youth was just shot to death, with hands in air in #Hebron near Gilbert checkpoint then a knife planted: image via Anonymous Palestine @PalAnonymous, 28 October 2015

Colonial

Israeli military in the old city of al Khalil / Hebron: image via Jacob Burns @JacobTBurns, 28 October 2015

#Hebron: image via JacobTBurns @JacobTBurns, 28 October 2015

Army vehicles rushing now, people near heard 15-20 shots. Sirens, soldiers putting on their helmets #Hebron: image via JacobTBurns @JacobTBurns, 28 October 2015

Armed settlers in the streets along with lots of army, civilians standing around #Hebron: image via JacobTBurns @JacobTBurns, 28 October 2015

Soldiers gathering on Shuhada Street #Hebron: image via JacobTBurns @JacobTBurns, 28 October 2015

Palestinian stone throwers clash with Israeli security forces following Friday prayers on Friday, in the West Bank town of Hebron. Israel lifted age restrictions for the main weekly prayers at Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound, in an apparent bid to ease tensions over the site that sparked a surge in Israel-Palestinian violence: photo by Hazem Bader/AFP, 23 October 2015

Death in Hebron

 

Palestinian Girl Killed by Israeli Police in Hebron: image via IMEMC News @imemcnews, 25 October 2015

Another daughter of Palestine killed in cold blood: 26th October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine, 26 October 2015

Yesterday afternoon, Dania Arsheid, 17, was gunned down in cold blood and killed by Israeli forces in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron).

Dania was still wearing her school-uniform and school-bag, coming from school in the afternoon. Just twenty minutes before the incident, at a checkpoint leading to the Ibrahimi mosque, a female soldier was heard on the army-radio by passers-by announcing that she wanted “to kill a Palestinian person that day’.

Dania passed through the checkpoint leading from the Palestinian market to the Ibrahimi mosque, and a few meters further to the next checkpoint. She passed through the metal detector and gave her bag to the soldiers at the checkpoint. An eyewitness explains: “I saw with my own eyes, there was no knife -– nothing.” According to eye-witnesses, soldiers then shot at her feet -– at which point she immediately stepped back and raised her hands. That is when soldiers started shot her, according to witnesses, seven to eight times. While she lay on the ground bleeding from her neck, no first aid was given, not even the Israeli ambulance that arrived after about twenty minutes gave any medical help. A Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance was denied entry to the scene and ordered by soldiers to leave.

While the Israeli army claims that Dania had a knife and was thus a threat to the Israeli soldiers at the checkpoint, all eye-witness accounts refute this. Regardless of that claim, shooting a child numerous times into the upper body and neck, while she is moving back with her hands in the air, clearly scared and not a threat, will never be justifiable under any circumstances. Denying first aid and access of medical personnel to critically injured persons can not be excused.

Sadly, episodes where Palestinian youth are extra-judicially executed by Israeli forces and then denied medical aid are not an exception anymore. Dania is already the third girl killed by Israeli soldiers in al-Khalil within a month. It is hard to imagine the pain of the parents and the family of these victims learning about the pointless, tragic death of their loved ones. A witness to already more than one of the heinous murders states: “What can we do? They are not human!”

Palestinian ambulance denied access to critically injured Dania: photo via ISM, 25 October 2015

Israeli Soldiers Kill Schoolgirl in Hebron: WAFA Palestinian News and Information Agency, 5 October 2015

HEBRON, October 25, 2015 (WAFA) – Israeli soldiers Sunday killed a schoolgirl in Hebron, raising the death toll among Palestinians since the beginning of October 2015 to 58, according to the media spokesman of the Ministry of Health.

Palestinians who were present when the incident took place said soldiers opened fire at the girl, who was not identified yet by the ministry, near the Ibrahimi mosque in the Old City quarter.

Until the moment of publishing the story, the girl is reportedly still lying on the ground, while Israeli soldiers continue to prevent medical crews from providing her with medical treatment.

Shortly after the incident, Israeli forces shut down the mosque and denied the access of worshipers and Islamic Waqf personnel.

According to the Ministry of Health, at least 58 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the beginning of October 2015, including 13 children and a pregnant woman.

At least 2,000 Palestinians have been injured this month, most of them with live rounds and rubber-coated steel bullets, and many others were beaten or suffered burns due to Israeli gas bombs and the use of concussion grenades.

Among the wounded are 450 children and women, while the approximate number of Palestinians who suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation is more than 4,000.

M.N/M.H

Israeli police said a Palestinian woman was shot after approaching border police with a knife: photo via CNN, 25 October 2015

 

Palestinian woman shot dead; Israelis say she was armed, witness disputes it: Kareem Khadder and Michael Schwartz, CNN, 25 October 2015

Jerusalem (CNN) -- Israeli police said they fatally shot a knife-wielding Palestinian woman at a border checkpoint Sunday, but a Palestinian witness disputed that she was armed, saying she was a "terrified" schoolgirl.

The woman aroused the suspicion of border police at a checkpoint beside the Cave of the Patriarchs (known to Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque) in the West Bank city of Hebron, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

"They asked her to identify herself and she suddenly took out a knife, started to approach them while shouting at them. The police fired accurately and neutralized her," he said. 

"There are no injuries to the Border Police force."

'I don't have a knife'

A Hebron resident, who asked not to be identified, told CNN he was next in line at the checkpoint -- some 4 meters away -- when the incident occurred.

"There were seven or eight soldiers around her. The soldiers checked her belongings in a school bag. She looked like she was around 14 years old," he said.

"She went through a metal detector. In the school bag they found nothing and asked her, 'Where's the knife?' She said, 'I don't have a knife.' Then they fired between her legs. She was terrified and moved back half a meter or a meter.

"She raised her arms in the air saying 'I don't have a knife.' Then they shot eight to 10 bullets, but I don't know exactly who was shooting. Then she fell on the ground."

The official Palestinian news agency WAFA also described the woman as a schoolgirl, quoting witnesses as saying Israeli soldiers had prevented medics from reaching her.

Issa Amer, director of Youth Against Settlements, a Palestinian nonprofit that monitors and documents settler violence and military activity in Hebron, said the group had no information on this specific incident, but "the woman had to go through two metal detectors and revolving doors. This means that her belongings were checked. Also, we call on the military to release video of the incident because there are several CCTV surveillance cameras that record everything in that area."

 

Palestinian girl murdered shot by Israeli forces and left to bleed on the concrete @Ibrahimi mosque #AlKhalil: image via Kajsa Anckarström @K_Anckarstrom

 

Palestinian girl murdered shot by Israeli forces and left to bleed on the concrete @Ibrahimi mosque #AlKhalil: image via Kajsa Anckarström @K_Anckarstrom

 

La tristesse des camarades de classe de la martyre Dayna Jihad Irchid tuée de 10 balles à @Alkhalil #FreePalestine: image via Mohamed Nathmaza @nathmaza, 26 October 2015

La tristesse des camarades de classe de la martyre Dayna Jihad Irchid tuée de 10 balles à @Alkhalil #FreePalestine: image via Mohamed Nathmaza @nathmaza, 26 October 2015

La tristesse des camarades de classe de la martyre Dayna Jihad Irchid tuée de 10 balles à @Alkhalil #FreePalestine: image via Mohamed Nathmaza @nathmaza, 26 October 2015

 

La tristesse des camarades de classe de la martyre Dayna Jihad Irchid tuée de 10 balles à @Alkhalil #FreePalestine: image via Mohamed Nathmaza @nathmaza, 26 October 2015

Again happened today in #Hebron city, Zionist forces killed 17 age girl in cold blood :'( :-(: image via Yousef Mema @Joo_Gaza, 25 October 2015

 

Israeli forces shot a young Palestinian female student in Hebron and left her bleeding on the ground: image via From Palestine @ M7madSmiry, 25 October 2015

 

She raised her arms & said, "I don’t have a knife” before being shot 8 times #Palestine: image via CJ Werleman @cjwerleman, 26 October 2015