The Electronic Intifada 1 March 2019
Israeli occupation forces killed four Palestinian children and one adult during the month of February.
A sixth Palestinian, Ahmad Ghazi Abbas Abu Jabal, 30, died on 3 February from wounds sustained during protests along Gaza’s boundary with Israel the previous month.
The four children killed during the month were all injured by Israeli fire against Palestinians protesting along Gaza’s boundary with Israel during Great March of Return demonstrations.
Hasan Iyad Abd al-Fattah Shalabi, 13, was shot in the chest and killed during protests east of Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on 8 February.
That same day, Hamza Muhammad Rushdi Ishtaiwi, 17, was fatally shot in the neck during protests east of Gaza City.
Hasan Nabil Ahmad Nofal, 16, died after he was struck in the head with an Israeli-fired tear gas canister during protests east of Bureij in central Gaza on 12 February.
Yusif Said Hussein al-Dayeh, 14, was shot in the chest and killed during protests east of Gaza City on 22 February.
A 21-year-old man in the West Bank, Abdallah Faisal Tawalbeh, was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers at al-Jalameh checkpoint near Jenin on 4 February.
Crimes against humanity
Sixteen Palestinians – seven of them children – have been killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank and Gaza so far this year.
Nine of those killed were fatally injured during Great March of Return protests. A UN commission of inquiry stated in late February that Israel’s use of military force against unarmed demonstrators in Gaza – resulting in the killing of 190 Palestinians and the wounding by live fire of nearly 8,000 more – may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Two Palestinians – Yasir Hamid Ishtayeh and Faris Baroud – died in Israeli detention during the month of February.
Tunnel deaths
Three Palestinians died inside Gaza tunnels during the month.
Gaza’s interior ministry stated that Abd al-Hamid al-Akar, a 39-year-old police officer, and Subhi Abu Qarushain, 28, died after Egypt pumped poison gas into a tunnel while the two men were attempting to rescue three workers who had called for help.
Ibrahim Hamdan Qudeih, a 24-year-old member of the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, died of a heart attack while working inside a “resistance tunnel” in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
Also during the month of February a Palestinian man was arrested and charged with the rape and murder of Ori Ansbacher, a 19-year-old Israeli woman.
Palestinian factions have repudiated Israel’s secret police claims of a nationalist motive for the woman’s killing. A senior official with the Fatah faction, imprisoned by Israel, told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz: “If an Arab girl had been there, he would have done the same thing. There is nothing nationalist in his acts.”