Rights and Accountability 18 January 2017
Israeli forces were shown on video opening heavy gunfire on a Palestinian man at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday:
The footage shows a man standing next to a concrete barrier, several feet away from any Israeli soldiers.The man stands in place for several seconds, and remains standing as a group of soldiers shout at him to stop and sit on the ground and a first shot is fired. He then walks towards the soldiers who are firing near his feet before he eventually collapses, apparently shot in the upper body, as he comes closer to the soldiers at a faster pace.
The Israeli army claimed that the man, identified by Palestinian sources as Nidal Daoud Mahdawi, 44, attempted to stab soldiers.
No Israelis were injured during the incident.
Mahdawi reportedly held Israeli residency and was a married father of five.
Youth dragged before declared dead
The fatal shooting of Mahdawi came one day after Israeli forces were shown on video dragging an injured Palestinian teenager who would later be declared dead.
That incident occurred during confrontations near the Bethlehem-area village of Tuqu in the West Bank.
The slain youth was identified as Qusay al-Amour, 17.
Footage of the incident shows al-Amour lying motionless on the ground in a grove of trees as a group of soldiers run towards him, flipping him over before dragging him by the arms and legs to an army jeep several meters away, his head repeatedly hitting the ground:
The video shows Israeli soldiers firing crowd-dispersing weapons at Palestinians who had tried to approach the youth. Soldiers are then seen examining al-Amour before he is placed onto a stretcher.“According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, al-Amour was hit by four bullets in his upper body and two in the legs. Four other Palestinians were wounded in the incident, including al-Amour’s sister,” the Tel Aviv newspaper Haaretz reported.
The Israeli military said that al-Amour had thrown stones at soldiers, “who responded by firing bullets from Ruger rifles,” Haaretz added. “The army permits use of the Ruger to disperse stone-throwers, even though it fires live, albeit small-caliber, ammunition.”
The Palestinian photographer who recorded the video of the incident told the paper that al-Amour was trying to hide from the soldiers in the grove, “but left his upper body exposed,” before he was shot and dragged away, apparently already dead.
Qusay al-Amour, buried on Tuesday, is the first Palestinian child to be killed by Israeli forces so far this year.
APA imagesAn official with the Palestine Red Crescent Society told Haaretz that one of their ambulances arrived at the scene but was not allowed to approach.
The military told media it has begun to investigate the incident.
An image of al-Amour circulated on social media after his death:
Deadly raid
Last week, Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man during a late-night raid in al-Faraa refugee camp in the northern West Bank.
A Palestinian political party official told media that the man, Muhammad al-Salihi, 32, was “executed” in his home by Israeli officers.
“Muhammad started to shout at them because he thought they were thieves, and the soldiers immediately showered him with bullets at point-blank range, before the very eyes of his elderly mother,” Khalid Mansour, a leader of the Palestinian People’s Party, told the Ma’an News Agency.
An Israeli army spokesperson said that the incident did not take place inside a home. The spokesperson added that al-Salihi had advanced towards soldiers while brandishing a knife, and did not heed their orders to halt.
No Israelis were injured during the incident.
Four Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank so far this year, and a man in Gaza is presumed dead after he went missing when Israeli naval forces attacked his fishing boat, causing it to capsize.
Four Israeli soldiers were killed this month when a Palestinian man drove a truck into a group of them in Jerusalem before he was shot dead at the scene.
In 2016, more than 100 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces, and 13 Israelis were killed by Palestinians, according to United Nations data.
Comments
These are bloody murderers
Permalink Sage replied on
Who can believe their lies anymore. If this was one of their own, maybe a settler terrorists, they would not have shot him like that. They KNOW they can get away with murder, and take advantage of it. So this is what America keeps supporting.
Most moral army at it,s finest.
Permalink larry white replied on
These so called moral soldiers spend their time getting their jollies murdering at will .They know they will not be subject to accountability. Au Contraire , a promotion is most likely and the admiration of the vast majority of Jewish Israelis.They will be carried shoulder high and adorned with medals for bravery in the face of so called terrorism perpetrated by unarmed foe.
And we are told that Israel is being delegitimized .
Where else in the world is
Permalink Robertsgt40 replied on
Where else in the world is throwing stones a capital offense?