Following a deadly 2022, the new year has already seen Israeli forces kill three Palestinians – a 15-year-old from Bethlehem, a 17-year-old, and a young man of 22. Two other Palestinians in their twenties were also killed in the last days of December.
Israeli forces kill two Palestinian children in early days of new year
reposted from Defense For Children International – Palestine (DCIP), January 3, 2023
Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinian boys in the occupied West Bank in the first days of 2023.
Adam Issam Shaker Ayyad, 15, was shot and killed by Israeli forces around 4:30 a.m. on January 3 in Dheisheh refugee camp, just outside the city of Bethlehem in the southern occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International – Palestine.
Israeli forces entered Dheisheh refugee camp earlier that morning to arrest a Palestinian man. Palestinians confronted Israeli forces, who fired live ammunition, rubber-coated metal bullets, sound bombs, and tear gas canisters at the crowds. Adam sustained at least one gunshot wound to the back of his shoulder. He was transferred to Al-Hussein Hospital in nearby Beit Jala in a private car, where doctors pronounced him dead.
Fuad Mahmoud Ahmad Abed, 17, was shot by an Israeli sniper around 11:30 p.m. on January 1 in the village of Kafr Dan, west of Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by DCIP. An Israeli sniper stationed on the second floor of a Palestinian home about 50 meters (164 feet) away shot Fuad in his abdomen, pelvis, and legs. A Palestinian ambulance transferred Fuad to Ibn Sina hospital in Jenin, where doctors pronounced him dead around 1 a.m. on January 2.
“Palestinian children live in a hyper-militarized context where the Israeli military’s nighttime and early morning incursions into Palestinian communities to arrest and intimidate Palestinian civilians is the norm,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “The year has just begun and Israeli forces have already shot and killed two Palestinian children with complete impunity.”
Fuad was killed as Israeli forces entered Kafr Dan around 10:30 p.m. to demolish the homes of two Palestinian men who allegedly carried out a shooting attack and were killed by Israeli forces on September 14, 2022. Palestinians confronted Israeli forces, and Israeli forces withdrew from the area around 11:30 p.m. Some Palestinians chased after the Israeli military vehicles, including Fuad.
Fuad and Adam are the first two Palestinian children killed by Israeli forces in 2023, according to documentation collected by DCIP.
Under international law, intentional lethal force is only justified in circumstances where a direct threat to life or of serious injury is present. However, investigations and evidence collected by DCIP regularly suggest that Israeli forces use lethal force against Palestinian children in circumstances that may amount to extrajudicial or wilful killings.
53 Palestinian children were killed in 2022, according to documentation collected by DCIP, including 36 Palestinian children shot and killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the occupied West Bank. DCIP documented the killing of 17 Palestinian children between August 5–7 after Israeli forces launched a military offensive in the Gaza Strip. DCIP continues to investigate several incidents.
Israeli Soldiers Kill A Palestinian Near Jenin
reposted from IMEMC – the International Middle East Media Center, January 2, 2023
On Monday dawn, dozens of armored Israeli military vehicles, including bulldozers, invaded Kafr Dan town, west of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, demolished the homes of two slain Palestinians, killed two young men, and injured at least eight others, one seriously.
Samer Atiya, the head of the Ibn Sina Specialized Hospital in Jenin city, said the soldiers killed Mohammad Samer Houshiyya, 22, from Al-Yamoun town, west of Jenin, after shooting him with several live rounds in the chest.
The soldiers also shot at least eight Palestinians with live fire, including one who suffered life-threatening gunshot wounds.
Furthermore, Palestinian fighters exchanged fire with the invading Israeli army vehicles in several parts of the town.
Israeli Police Kill Palestinian in Kafr Qassem
reposted from IMEMC – the International Middle East Media Center, December 23, 2022
The Israeli police reported on Friday that its officers shot a Palestinian man, Naim Mahmoud Theeb Bedir, 23, before dawn on Friday, in Kafr Qassem in the Southern Triangle area (inside the undeclared borders of what is now Israel), claiming that he was trying to carry out a ramming attack against the police.
The man’s family rejected the Israeli narrative, saying, “The Israeli police killed our son Naim Mahmoud Bedir, 23, in cold blood, and the police story that he tried to attack them is false.”
The family told reporters, “The Israeli police, after killing our son Naim in cold blood, stormed our home and ransacked all our belongings in front of the children, who were screaming and crying, terrified as the soldiers destroyed our home.”
During the home invasion, the Israeli police abducted several of Naim’s family members to bring them back to the police station for questioning. Israeli forces are known for their torture techniques, which they call ‘enhanced interrogation’.
The police claimed that Badir called the police, saying that a violent incident had occurred, but that when the police arrived, he ran towards them with a weapon, and then got into his car and drove toward the police, mildly injuring two.
The police further claimed that two of its members were slightly injured and were subsequently transferred to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva. The police spokesperson said that the district commander then arrived at the site and conducted a field assessment of the situation.
The police then deployed dozens of its members in the village of Kafr Qassem, and sent reinforcements, including members of the special units, and turned the city into a military base, according to local sources.
According to the Israeli police, a search of the building near where Badir was killed turned up “a weapon, ammunition, Molotov cocktails, and a knife.” But there is no evidence that Badir was in that building.
A video clip taken from the scene shows a number of Israeli police officers shooting live rounds into a Palestinian vehicle as it is moving backward.
The police said that it dealt with the incident in Kafr Qassem as a “hostile sabotage operation,” noting that after the attack, the police conducted searches for other suspects.
Palestinian footballer killed by Israel in West Bank
reposted from IMEMC – the International Middle East Media Center, December 22, 2022
On Thursday dawn, Israeli soldiers killed a young Palestinian man and injured thirty-seven, including three who suffered life-threatening wounds, after dozens of army jeeps invaded the eastern area of Nablus city in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.
The invasion led to protests before the army fired a barrage of live rounds, rubber-coated steel bullets, gas bombs, and concussion grenades.
Medical sources said the soldiers killed a young man, Ahmad Atef Mustafa Daraghma, 23, from Tubas in the northeastern West Bank, after shooting him with two live rounds in the back and one in the leg.
Ahmad was an athlete and a known soccer player with the Thaqafi Club in Tulkarem, in the northern part of the West Bank.
They added that the soldiers also shot six Palestinians with live fire, including three who suffered life-threatening wounds and three who were injured by shrapnel, and two who were shot with rubber-coated steel bullets in the eye and the arm, in addition to at least 29 who suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation.
Media sources in Nablus said dozens of armored military vehicles, including one bulldozer, invaded the city’s eastern area to accompany illegal Israeli colonizers into Joseph Tomb and closed many streets, leading to massive protests.
Also, the Lion’s Den resistance group said in a brief statement that its fighters exchanged fire with the invading Israeli soldiers and hurled pipe bombs at their vehicles.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh denounced Daraghma’s killing and called on FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) to condemn Israel for killing Palestinian athletes.
Shtayyeh also called on the international community and human rights groups to intervene and help end the illegal Israeli occupation and its ongoing crimes against the Palestinian people and to prosecute Israel for its war crime.
It is worth mentioning that the army frequently invades the eastern area of Nablus to accompany the colonists into the Joseph’s Tomb historic site, an issue that leads to protests, in addition to the ongoing invasions of homes and the abduction of many Palestinians.
[This article has been updated.]
NOTE: The entire West Bank has been under Israeli occupation since 1967; all its official entrances and exits are controlled by Israeli soldiers, making its Palestinian inhabitants virtual prisoners. Many are families that were ethnically cleansed from Israel during Israel’s founding war (see this and this and this). Israeli forces often invade them; one example is here.
Israel was established in 1947 through a war of ethnic cleansing of the indigenous population, both Muslims and Christians, and it continues to steal other people’s land for illegal colonies known as ‘settlements.’ While Palestinians most often use nonviolent resistance, a small number use armed resistance against the invaders.
Thanks to the pro-Israel lobby in the US, Congress disburses over $20 million per day of Americans’ tax money directly to and/or on behalf of Israel.
For a complete list of Palestinians and Israelis killed since 2000, please visit Israel-Palestine Timeline
IMEMC, the International Middle East Media Center, is a media center developed in collaboration between Palestinian and International journalists to provide independent media coverage of Israel-Palestine. It was founded by the Palestinian Centre for Rapprochement between People in 2003. In 2021, IMEMC became a project of the American nonprofit organization If Americans Knew.
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