.
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.
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
Rabbis pose for a group photo at Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters in Brooklyn: image via Reuters Top News @Reuters 9 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
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
#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
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
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
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
5 comments:
CCTV footage provided by Dr Basel Abuwarda shows a group of armed men walking the corridors of a hospital in the West Bank city of Hebron. Reports say they are Israeli undercover forces, who had shot dead a Palestinian man while trying to detain another (via the Guardian, 12 November 2015)
CCTV video: "20 Israeli soldiers sneaked into a HOSPITAL pretending to be Arabs and then murdered a man & kidnapped a patient"-- posted by Dr Basel Abuwarda, 12 November 2015>
"This video shows how they kidnapped the injured patient after killing his relative in front of him" -- posted by Dr Basel Abuwarda, 12 November 2015>
"This video shows how the undercover Israeli soldiers attacked the medical staff as well" -- posted by Dr Basel Abuwarda, 12 November 2015
Palestinian shot dead in Israeli undercover raid on West Bank hospital: Peter Beaumont / Cousin of Palestinian killed in Israeli undercover raid describes the shooting - video: the Guardian, 12 November 2015
Israeli forces' rolling loudspeaker warning to Aida camp: "We will gas you until you all die". 29 October 2015
On the 29th October Mahdi Mohtaseb was executed by Israeli forces at the Salaymeh (160) checkpoint, near the Ibrahimi Mosque in the old city of al-Khalil (Hebron). Mahdi, who is survived by five brothers, two sisters, and many grieving family and loved ones, joins the daily rising death toll of mostly Palestinian youths gunned down by Israeli forces and Israeli settlers since October 1st
"absolute madness" in Hebron, 27 October 2015
Nothing more to say: ISRAELIS ARE KILLERS!!
Unflinching Tom.
But let us not judge a civilian population on the actions of the insane conservative military. All military are murderers. Sadly, here, the police as well.
Arab lives mater
“Israel” is a bastard state spawned from Euro-American colonialism in an age of dying empires, a sordid affair that began almost a hundred years ago. “Israel” is what happens when politicians go whoring after money from bankers in order to finance their internecine wars. In that sense, “Israel” is the bloody continuation of WWI, out of which it was first conceived. As others have noted, “Israel” is not a state at all but a genocidal force of occupation.
"...a genocidal force of occupation"
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