Israeli Soldiers Kill Palestinian Girl Near Ramallah

Car riddled with Israeli army bullet holes in Beitunia that killed a 16-year-old girl. (photo)

Trigger-happy Israeli soldiers in the Occupied Territories opened heavy machine gun fire at a car that frightened them, killing passenger Fulla Rasmi Masalmeh, 16

UPDATED INFORMATION from IMEMC – the International Middle East Media Center, November 14, 2022

On Monday evening, the Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed that Israeli soldiers killed, at dawn, a teenage girl in Betunia town after shooting her with a live round in the head and added that the name published before was provided by the Israeli army and is incorrect.

In a brief statement, the Health Ministry said the slain girl has been officially identified as Folla Rasmi Abdul-Aziz Masalma, 16.

It said that the slain teen would have turned 16 Tuesday and that she was killed after the soldiers shot her in the head.

Her family is originally from Beit Awwa town, west of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, but lives in Al-Biereh city near Ramallah.

The Health Ministry said the soldiers took the body of the slain girl and initially provided the Palestinian Civil Affairs Committee with a name of another woman who apparently had nothing to do with the incident.

An eyewitnesses said, after shooting the girl, the soldiers took her out of the car while heavily bleeding, placed her on the ground and tore her clothes, before moving her to one of their jeeps.

He added that the soldiers fired at the car three times in a short time and said that the driver was shot and went out of the car heavily bleeding and raising his hands in the air.

“He was bleeding apparently from his hand, before he stepped out of his car with his hand up in the air. The soldiers and took him to one of their jeeps,” he said, “The girl was then taken out of the car and placed on the ground. She has bleeding when the soldiers carried her but dropped her on the ground, then carried her again, and took her to one of the jeeps that was at a distance.”

“But the jeep they took her to already had the wounded young man who was detained by them, so they placed her on the ground, and then took her to another jeep that had no space, before moving her to another jeep where they placed her on its floor and drove away…. she was bleeding… I don’t think there was any more blood in her body by then…”

“They bought Shawarma and were driving away to eat it, this is how coldblooded their murder is!”, he concluded, “their blood was everywhere, including their shawarma…”

It is worth mentioning that, later on, Palestinian medics took Fulla’s body to the Ramallah governmental hospital before transferring her to Doura governmental hospital near Hebron, in preparation for funeral ceremony.

By Ihab Rimawi, reposted from WAFA

RAMALLAH, Monday, November 14, 2022 (WAFA) – Today at dawn, the Israeli occupation army killed 15-year-old Fulla Rasmi Masalmeh, in the town of Beitunia, west of Ramallah, in a new unjustified murder without posing any danger or threat to the soldiers who were simply implementing their leadership’s relaxed open fire policy toward Palestinians in the occupied territories.

Bakr Armoush, 30 years, who witnessed the cold-blooded murder of Masalmeh, told WAFA that the murder took place around four o’clock in the morning when an Israeli occupation force was in the area to arrest two activists.

“The car, in which Masalmeh was, was moving at a slow speed that did not raise suspicion. The driver apparently was surprised by the presence of the occupation military vehicles more than 200 meters away from it. When he saw the soldiers, he tried to go back. But soldiers hiding in a dark spot opened fire directly at the car,” said Armoush.

“When the driver turned around in an attempt to get away from that area, soldiers in another area only 20 meters away from the first shooting site once again opened heavy machine gunfire at it, and then the car came to a total halt.”

Armoush added, based on what he saw from his nearby house: “A man came out of the car from the driver’s side and held up his hands. The soldiers approached him, threw him to the ground, and ripped off his shirt before arresting him. He was bleeding from the shoulder.

“Then the soldiers went to where the passenger was sitting, who was a girl, took her out of the car while she was bleeding from her head, brought a stretcher, and put her on it. They dropped her to the ground before carrying her again to one of their jeeps, and left the area.”

When the soldiers left the area, residents rushed to the scene of the murder and saw the car was riddled with bullet holes, mainly to the windshield, and found sandwiches covered with blood. “Apparently the couple was eating sandwiches when they were surprised by the soldiers and tried to leave the area in a hurry,” said the eyewitness.

Hours after the crime, the occupation army issued a statement claiming that the vehicle aroused the suspicion of the soldiers as it was traveling very fast, but Armoush’s testimony refutes the allegations of the occupation.

According to the Israeli human rights center, B’Tselem, which documented the Israeli army killing of six Palestinians during the first half of this year in what is known as “arrest of a suspect procedure”, said that the occupying state believes the life of the Palestinian is cheap and therefore the soldiers shoot immediately at any Palestinian they believe pose a threat to their lives. It said the soldiers who shoot and kill Palestinians have the full backing of the political officials and the military, with the approval of the legal advisors.

[This is a developing story, check back for possible updates]

Since the beginning of this year, 201 Palestinians, including 43 minors and 15 women, have been shot and killed by Israeli soldiers under various pretexts. They include 134 from the West Bank, 52 from the Gaza Strip, 11 from Jerusalem, and four from inside Israel. Meanwhile, the bodies of 117 Palestinians are held by Israel as a future bargaining chip.

For a complete list of Palestinians and Israelis killed since 2000, please visit Israel-Palestine Timeline

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 invade West Bank towns and villages daily; one example is here. 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.