Some recent Palestinian victims of Israel’s shoot-first policy
Palestinian grief is inescapable under Israel’s brutal occupation (pictured: Palestinian relatives mourn during a West Bank funeral for four Palestinians killed by Israeli military, January 9, 2016.)
For Israeli soldiers armed to the teeth, “looking suspicious” can be reason enough to shoot a Palestinian dead.
compiled by If Americans Knew
It is very rare to see a period of time in which more Israelis are killed than Palestinians, but this is one of those moments, as tensions are growing in the region and a few are taking Palestinian resistance to a new, lethal level.
According to IAK‘s Israel-Palestine timeline, in the last 247 months, there have been only three months in which more Israelis were killed than Palestinians (28 vs 13 in June 2001, 4 vs 0 in August 2008, 1 vs 0 in April 2014), and one month in which equal numbers of Israelis and Palestinians were killed (June 2002).
A total of 14 Israelis have been killed in four incidents of Palestinian resistance since March 22.
During the same period, at least 13 Palestinians have been killed. Below are some of the most recent stories.
ISRAELI FORCES KILLED ABDULLAH MOUSA AFTER HE “LIGHTLY WOUNDED” AN OFFICER
reposted from Middle East Eye,
Israeli police shot dead a Palestinian man on Tuesday morning after he allegedly attempted to stab an officer in the port city of Ashkelon, Israeli police said.
The man was identified by police as a 40-year-old from the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, the newspaper Haaretz reported.
A 37-year-old officer was lightly wounded and taken to hospital.
Israeli police said the officer had been investigating a man who aroused his suspicion when “the attacker pulled out a knife and attacked the officer”.
Police said the officer “responded quickly, fired, and neutralised the suspect, whose death was declared on site”.
ISRAELI SOLDIERS KILLED GHADA SABATEEN BECAUSE SHE “LOOKED SUSPICIOUS”
reposted from The New Arab,
A Palestinian woman was shot dead by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank because she looked “suspicious” as she walked near a checkpoint near Bethlehem on Sunday.
The woman, identified as Ghada Ibrahim Ali Sabateen, could be seen holding her hands above her head as she ran away from the troops who opened fire at her, a graphic footage of the incident showed.
The woman, was a mother-of-six, was unarmed, according to Israeli forces spokesperson, who alleged that she looked “suspicious”.
After shooting her, Israeli forces reportedly administered first aid before a private Palestinian car rushed her to the nearby Beit Jala government hospital.
Hospital staff tried to treat Sabateen, but had suffered a fatal injury to an artery in her leg and lost masses of blood as a result, according to a statement by the Palestinian health ministry. She later died at the hospital.
Israeli media attempted to link the mother’s killing to a spurious phenomenon of “suicide by cop”, alleging that Palestinian women have been “acting in a suspicious or threatening manner with the hope that they will be shot dead by Israeli troops”.
Ghada Sabateen was a widow and leaves behind six children, who have been orphaned by her killing.
Rights groups have repeatedly slammed Israeli forces for showing “appalling disregard for human life” by using “reckless and unlawful lethal force” against Palestinians.
Amnesty International has repeatedly urged an end to the “worrying rise in unlawful killings by Israeli forces, fostered by a culture of impunity”.
ISRAELI SOLDIERS KILLED MAHA ZAATARI AFTER SHE ALLEGEDLY “MILDLY WOUNDED” A SOLDIER
reposted from International Middle East Media Center,
Israeli sources said a Palestinian woman stabbed an officer near the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, in the southern part of the West Bank, mildly wounding him, before the soldiers shot and killed her.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said the woman, identified as Maha Kathem Awad Zaatari, 24, was from the Abu Da’jan area in Hebron city.
The Israeli occupation army said the woman arrived at the roadblock, where many soldiers and officers are stationed, and stabbed one before she was fatally shot.
After killing the young woman, the Israeli army closed the Ibrahimi Mosque and declared the area around it a closed military zone.
The soldiers also invaded her home and ransacked it, in addition to interrogating her family.
ISRAELI FORCES KILLED MOHAMMAD ZAKARNA WITH AN EXPANDING BULLET IN THE BACK
reposted from The New Arab,
A Palestinian teenager has died of wounds sustained by gunshot at close range during a raid by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.
Mohammad Zakarneh, 17, succumbed to his wounds on Monday after being injured late on Sunday when Israeli special units forces tried to target the vehicle of the brother of the Tel Aviv attacker.
Israeli forces attacked the car of Hammam Hazem, the brother of Raad Hazem, the Tel Aviv shooter, while he was with his mother in an industrial zone in the city of Jenin. It was not clear what he was accused of.
Several Israeli military vehicles made a sudden incursion into the industrial area in Jenin, where three soldiers got out and shot a white Mazda car, local sources told The New Arab’s Arabic-language service Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.
One of the bullets hit the teenager, who was nearby, while Hammam and his mother were moderately wounded, surviving the attack.
Fatah, formerly the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, declared a strike in the city to mourn Zakarneh’s death and proceed with his funeral, which took place at noon local time.
“They just wanted to kill anything Palestinian, they didn’t take into consideration human rights, or his age, or the feelings of his parents and family,” Zakarneh’s father told Palestinian media at the funeral.
ISRAELI FORCES KILLED MOHAMMAD GHONEIM AFTER HE ALLEGEDLY THREW A MOLOTOV COCKTAIL
reposted from Middle East Eye,
Israeli forces fatally shot a former Palestinian prisoner during a raid in the town of al-Khader, south of the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, local sources have reported, marking the third Palestinian shot dead on Sunday.
Identified as 21-year-old Mohammad Ali Ghoneim, the young man was shot in the back near his home during an Israeli military raid in al-Khader, local sources said. The bullet reportedly exited his chest.
Ghoneim was evacuated to Al-Yamama Hospital in al-Khader where he succumbed to his wounds.
An Israeli military spokesperson alleged that troops opened fire after Ghoneim was seen hurling a Molotov cocktail toward an Israeli vehicle.
ISRAELI FORCES KILLED AHMAD SA’ADI DURING AN INVASION OF THE JENIN REFUGEE CAMP
reposted from International Middle East Media Center,
Ahmad Nasser Sa’adi, 21, was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers, and at least fourteen Palestinians were injured, during an invasion of the Jenin refugee camp in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli army confirmed that its soldiers invaded the refugee camp before surrounding the home of Ra’ad Hazem, who was killed by the army, before dawn Friday, nine hours after he allegedly killed three Israelis and wounded seven others in Tel Aviv.
Many armored military vehicles surrounded the refugee camp before invading it from several directions.
The soldiers surrounded a compound owned by Hazem’s family to abduct his father and several family members before exchanging fire with Palestinian resistance fighters in the area.
The soldiers invaded and ransacked Ra’ad’s home and interrogated the family before summoning his father and his brothers for interrogation in the Salem military base.
Medical sources at the Jenin governmental hospital said the soldiers killed a Palestinian resistance fighter, identified as Ahmad Nasser Sa’adi, 21, after shooting him with two live rounds in the head and chest.
The Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, said Ahmad was one of its members, adding that he was killed in a fire exchange with the soldiers who invaded the refugee camp.
During the invasion, the soldiers shot thirteen Palestinians with live ammunition in the refugee camp, including a young woman, 19, who suffered a serious-but-stable injury, before they moved to Jenin and Ibn Sina Hospitals.
Dozens of Palestinians also protested the invasion and the killing of the young man and hurled stones at the soldiers who fired live rounds, rubber-coated steel bullets, and gas bombs.
The Palestinians also used loudspeakers in the local mosques, calling to protect the refugee camp and defend it from Israeli occupation soldiers’ invasion.
The funeral precision of the slain young man was held on Saturday evening and was attended by thousands of Palestinians.
ISRAELI SOLDIERS ASSASSINATE THREE PALESTINIANS NEAR JENIN
reposted from International Middle East Media Center,
Undercover Israeli soldiers assassinated, three Palestinians at the Arraba junction, south of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, early Saturday at dawn.
The three assassinated Palestinians have been officially identified as Sa’eb Abahra, 30, from the al-Yamoun town, west of Jenin; Khalil Tawalba, 24, from Jenin refugee camp in Jenin city; and Saif Abu Libda, 25, from Nur Shams refugee camp, east of Tulkarem.
The Israeli army and internal security said they have no intention to transfer their corpses to their families for burial.
In a statement, the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, said the three Palestinians were members of the group.
The Palestinian TV said the undercover soldiers fired a barrage of live ammunition at a Palestinian car, killing the three young men and wounding several others.
The undercover Israeli soldiers surrounded the Palestinian car before opening fire at it, clearly indicating that the soldiers weren’t there to arrest anybody but to assassinate them.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its medics could not approach the three young men for more than two hours and added that a fourth Palestinian was injured, especially since the soldiers declared the area a closed military zone.
The soldiers also fired many gas bombs and concussion grenades at the Palestinians who tried to enter the area.
The soldiers told the PRCS medics to bring body bags to take the corpses of the three Palestinians, but the move was a ploy because that is when the soldiers put the bodies in an Israeli ambulance and drove away.
The Palestinian medics were never allowed to approach the three Palestinians and therefore could not administer any first aid that could have saved their lives.
Eyewitnesses said the soldiers pulled the Palestinians out of their car, and again fired several rounds at them while on the ground to ensure the kill.
Israeli sources said the army was operating in the area to arrest Palestinians, while the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) alleged that the Palestinians “were responsible for a shooting attack in the Tulkarem, and planned additional attacks”.
The sources added that the soldiers also found weapons in the car and confiscated them and said two soldiers were wounded during the attack.
The Israeli Internal Security Service claimed that three young men “intended to carry out shooting attacks against the soldiers and other targets.”
It also said the undercover soldiers were monitoring the Palestinians for several hours before killing them, adding that they are members of the Al-Aqsa Brigades, the armed wing of the Fateh movement.
The Israeli Jerusalem Post claimed the three were killed during an exchange of fire with the undercover forces, and added that four soldiers were injured, one seriously.
The undercover soldiers fired several live rounds at the car before the reported exchange of fire took place.
Go here to see the list of Palestinians and Israelis killed in the past 20+ years
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