9 oct 2019
Alaa Nizar Hamdan, 28, killed by Israeli live ammunition on October 4th, 2019
A Palestinian protester identified as Alaa Nizar Hamdan, 28, was shot dead on October 4, by Israeli Occupation soldiers in Jabalia, northern Gaza during the 77th week of the “Great March of Return” protests.
As thousands of Palestinians gathered near the Israeli barrier fence surrounding Gaza to participate in the marches, Israeli forces, who were positioned on sandy hills near the separation fence, opened fire, using live ammunition and tear gas canisters against the unarmed protesters. At least 50 were injured, 22 of them from live ammunition.
Alaa Nizar Hamdan was a husband and father with a 3 year-old daughter, Layan. On Saturday, the day after Alaa was killed, I spoke with his wife and family.
“Layan was everything to her father, since his death she has asked me hundreds of time about him, and I just keep crying… he always dreamed to have kids, and to bring them up in a beautiful home of their own,” his wife recalled.
Layan was conceived through in vitro fertilization, an extremely costly process anywhere in the world but especially for Gazans. “He was working on his new flat, it just needed a few more things to be ready for us, but he died before achieving his dream.”
Layan, Alaa’s only daughter, sat beside me while I spoke with her mother, playing with the new toys her father brought her for her 3rd birthday, blissfully unaware that her father would not be coming back, that she is now fatherless. “Last month, he celebrated his daughter’s birthday for the first time. He saved money from his salary for 6 months for the celebrations and gifts.”
One of Alaa’s sisters, Hanaa, 22, told me, “We are seven sisters and six brothers, Alaa was the middle brother, and the kindest among us…He was always so helpful and smart,” she added.
A Palestinian protester identified as Alaa Nizar Hamdan, 28, was shot dead on October 4, by Israeli Occupation soldiers in Jabalia, northern Gaza during the 77th week of the “Great March of Return” protests.
As thousands of Palestinians gathered near the Israeli barrier fence surrounding Gaza to participate in the marches, Israeli forces, who were positioned on sandy hills near the separation fence, opened fire, using live ammunition and tear gas canisters against the unarmed protesters. At least 50 were injured, 22 of them from live ammunition.
Alaa Nizar Hamdan was a husband and father with a 3 year-old daughter, Layan. On Saturday, the day after Alaa was killed, I spoke with his wife and family.
“Layan was everything to her father, since his death she has asked me hundreds of time about him, and I just keep crying… he always dreamed to have kids, and to bring them up in a beautiful home of their own,” his wife recalled.
Layan was conceived through in vitro fertilization, an extremely costly process anywhere in the world but especially for Gazans. “He was working on his new flat, it just needed a few more things to be ready for us, but he died before achieving his dream.”
Layan, Alaa’s only daughter, sat beside me while I spoke with her mother, playing with the new toys her father brought her for her 3rd birthday, blissfully unaware that her father would not be coming back, that she is now fatherless. “Last month, he celebrated his daughter’s birthday for the first time. He saved money from his salary for 6 months for the celebrations and gifts.”
One of Alaa’s sisters, Hanaa, 22, told me, “We are seven sisters and six brothers, Alaa was the middle brother, and the kindest among us…He was always so helpful and smart,” she added.
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Alaa was previously shot and injured in the leg a month ago by Israeli snipers during the Great March protests.
Alaa’s brother Mohammad recalled that “even after his injury, he would go with his crutches, to keep protesting for our rights. He enjoyed life, he liked swimming and travelling…his only fault was being a Palestinian who dreamed of liberation.” Mohammad was there the day Alaa was killed and saw it happen in front of him. “He posed no threat to the Israeli soldiers, he was not even holding anything in his hands. He was more than 100 hundred meter away from the soldiers.” According to PRCS ambulance medics, who took him to the Indonesian |
Hospital where he was pronounced dead, Alaa was shot in front of the main gate of Abu Safiyah area while he was about 80 – 100 meters west of the Israeli barrier fence.
Alaa used to work in a stone factory but the factory closed several years ago due to the Israeli economic and military blockade imposed on Gaza.
Medics say the slain father was shot in his chest by an explosive bullet, banned under international law, fired by an Israeli soldier enforcing an illegal occupation. Since the commencement of the Great March of Return in Gaza, in March 2018, 313 Palestinian protesters have been killed by Israeli forces, among them 2 journalists, 3 paramedics, 3 women and over 90 children. Thousands more have been wounded.
Palestinians in Gaza are calling for an end to the longstanding Israeli siege, which blocks the shipment to Gaza of everything from medical supplies, food and fuel, to materials to rebuild their homes, and the right of return to lands they were forcibly expelled from inside Occupied Palestine.
Wafa Aludaini is a journalist and activist in Gaza who writes a weekly column for ISM on the Great March of Return.
Visit the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).
Alaa used to work in a stone factory but the factory closed several years ago due to the Israeli economic and military blockade imposed on Gaza.
Medics say the slain father was shot in his chest by an explosive bullet, banned under international law, fired by an Israeli soldier enforcing an illegal occupation. Since the commencement of the Great March of Return in Gaza, in March 2018, 313 Palestinian protesters have been killed by Israeli forces, among them 2 journalists, 3 paramedics, 3 women and over 90 children. Thousands more have been wounded.
Palestinians in Gaza are calling for an end to the longstanding Israeli siege, which blocks the shipment to Gaza of everything from medical supplies, food and fuel, to materials to rebuild their homes, and the right of return to lands they were forcibly expelled from inside Occupied Palestine.
Wafa Aludaini is a journalist and activist in Gaza who writes a weekly column for ISM on the Great March of Return.
Visit the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).
7 oct 2019
Fadi Osama Ramadan Hejazi 20
The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip declared the death of Fadi Osama Ramadan Hejazi (20), from Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza Strip, after he succumbed to the wounds he sustained at GMR.
According to PCHR’s investigations, on 22 February 2019, Hejazi sustained serious wounds after he was shot with a live bullet in the thighs in eastern Jabalia, damaging his veins, tendons and arteries.
He sustained additional wounds on 19 April 2019, as he was shot with a live bullet in the right knee in eastern al-Buraij camp protests in the central Gaza Strip.
As a result, Hejazi suffered from another cut in the veins and arteries. Hejazi later suffered from blockage of arteries leading to a coma.
At approximately 14:00 on Sunday, 06 October 2019, Hejazi was taken to the Indonesian Hospital and doctors said that he suffered from clots.
He was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU); unfortunately, he was pronounced dead at approximately 09:30 on Monday, 07 October 2019.
Hejazi was transferred to the Forensic Medicine Department in al-Shifa Hospital to reveal the cause of death; the forensic report identified the complications of thrombosis in the blood vessels in the lower extremities as the cause of death.
Therefore, the Palestinian Ministry of Health officially announced that Hejazi’s death was caused by his wounds.
The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip declared the death of Fadi Osama Ramadan Hejazi (20), from Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza Strip, after he succumbed to the wounds he sustained at GMR.
According to PCHR’s investigations, on 22 February 2019, Hejazi sustained serious wounds after he was shot with a live bullet in the thighs in eastern Jabalia, damaging his veins, tendons and arteries.
He sustained additional wounds on 19 April 2019, as he was shot with a live bullet in the right knee in eastern al-Buraij camp protests in the central Gaza Strip.
As a result, Hejazi suffered from another cut in the veins and arteries. Hejazi later suffered from blockage of arteries leading to a coma.
At approximately 14:00 on Sunday, 06 October 2019, Hejazi was taken to the Indonesian Hospital and doctors said that he suffered from clots.
He was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU); unfortunately, he was pronounced dead at approximately 09:30 on Monday, 07 October 2019.
Hejazi was transferred to the Forensic Medicine Department in al-Shifa Hospital to reveal the cause of death; the forensic report identified the complications of thrombosis in the blood vessels in the lower extremities as the cause of death.
Therefore, the Palestinian Ministry of Health officially announced that Hejazi’s death was caused by his wounds.
4 oct 2019
Alaa Nezar Hamdan
At least one Palestinian was killed and over 14 others were injured by live bullets or rubber-coated rounds today, as Israeli forces attacked hundreds of protesters taking part in the weekly Great March of Return at Gaza-Israel border, according to medical sources.
Israeli soldiers manning the Gaza-Israel fence fired live bullets and rubber-coated steel rounds at the protesters who gathered at many encampments along the border, killing one protester who was identified as Alaa Nezar Hamdan. Over 14 protesters were also injured.
Some of the wounded were moved to hospital and others were treated in the field hospitals.
Over 310 Palestinians have been killed and about 17,000 others injured by Israeli forces since the outbreak of the Great March of Return protests at Gaza border on March 30, 2018.
The weekly protests call for lifting the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip and for the return of the Palestinian refugees to their ancestral homes in pre-1948 Palestine.
77th Great March of Return: a Palestinian Civilian Killed and 65 Injured, Including 25 Children, a Woman and a Paramedic
A Palestinian civilian was killed, and 65 others injured, including 25 children, a woman and a paramedic, as a result of Israeli attacks against peaceful protestors at the 77th Great March of Return, this Friday, 04 October 2019.
Israeli forces persisted in the use of excessive lethal force against the protestors, killing a Palestinian civilian and injuring dozens, 27 of them sustained live bullet wounds mainly in their upper bodies. PCHR documented an increased use of rubber bullets by Israeli forces as many protestors sustained minor wounds and were treated in the field.
Thousands of Palestinians participated in today’s protests across the five Great March of Return encampments in the Gaza Strip, under the slogan “Reconciliation is the People’s Choice”. The protests lasted from 15:00 to 19:00 and involved activities such as speeches and theatrical performances. Hundreds of civilians protested at varied distances from the border fence across the Gaza Strip, where some protestors attempted to throw stones, Molotov Cocktails and firecrackers at the Israeli forces, who responded with excessive force.
As a result, dozens of civilians were directly shot while other suffocated due to tear gas inhalation.
PCHR documented 213 killings by Israel since the outbreak of the protests on 30 March 2018, including 46 children, 2 women, 9 persons with disabilities, 4 paramedics and 2 journalists. Additionally, 14,115 were wounded, including 3,051 children, 430 women, 245 paramedics and 215 journalists, noting that many of those injured had sustained multiple injuries on separate occasions.
The following is a summary of today’s events along the Gaza Strip border:
Northern Gaza Strip:
At approximately 16:00, Hundreds of civilians participated in Abu Safiyah area protests, northeast of Jabalia. Speeches, theatrical performances and other segments were performed at the protest central encampment. At approximately 16:15, dozens of protestors approached the border fence, threw stones as well as firecrackers at the Israeli soldiers, who responded with live and rubber bullets and tear gas canisters. At approximately 16:35 on the same day, Israeli soldiers opened fire at civilians, who were adjacent to Abu Safiyah Gate.
As a result, ‘Ala’a Nezar ‘Ayesh Hamdan (28), from Beit Hanoun, was shot with a live bullet in the chest and he was transferred via an ambulance of Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) to the medical point where medical crews tried to resuscitate him for half an hour, with no avail. At approximately 17:05, Hamdan was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Indonesian Hospital where he was pronounced dead approximately 15 minutes later.
According to the statement of the ambulance officers, who transferred him to the medical point, Hamdan was shot in front of the main gate of Abu Safiyah area while he was about 80 – 100 meters west of the border fence. Furthermore, Israeli forces injured 12 civilians, including 9 children; 5 were shot with live bullets and their shrapnel, 5 were shot with rubber bullets, and 2 with tear gas canisters.
Gaza City:
Hundreds of protestors took part in eastern Malakah area. Speeches, theatrical performances and other segments were performed at the protest central encampment. Dozens of protestors approached the fence and threw stones with slingshots at Israeli soldiers. The soldiers fired live and rubber bullets and tear gas canisters at the protestors.
As a result, 9 civilians were injured, including 6 children: 5 were shot with live bullets and their shrapnel, 2 with rubber bullets and 2 were hit with tear gas canisters.
Central Gaza Strip:
hundreds of civilians, including women and children, took part in the eastern Bureij refugee camp protests; dozens gathered adjacent to the border fence at a range varying between 3 – 300 meters and raised the Palestinian flags. The Israeli soldiers launched a quad copter to photograph protestors, who had set fire to tires and thrown stones, sound bombs and Molotov Cocktails at the Israeli soldiers; the latter responded with live and rubber bullets and teargas canisters at them.
As a result, 15 civilians were injured, including 2 children; 10 civilians were shot with live bullets and their shrapnel, 3 with rubber bullets, and 2 with tear gas canisters.
Khan Younis:
Hundreds participated in Khuza’ah protests. Speeches, theatrical performances and other segments were performed at the protest central encampment. Tens approached the border fence and attempted to throw stones, firecrackers and Molotov Cocktails. Israeli forces fired live and rubber bullets and tear gas canisters at protestors, wounding 10 civilians, including 2 children and a paramedic and they were transferred to hospitals: 2 were shot with live bullets and their shrapnel, 3 were shot with rubber bullets and 5 were hit with tear gas canisters.
Moreover, many civilians sustained minor wounds after being hit with rubber bullets and they received medical treatment on the spot. The wounded volunteer paramedic, ‘Ali Abdul ‘Aziz Fuseifes (22), from Bani Suheila, was hit with a tear gas canister to the head.
Rafah:
1500 civilians participated in the eastern Shokah protests, where folklore songs and speeches were held in addition to commemorating Saher ‘Othman, who was killed in last week’s protests. Dozens approached the border fence and threw stones at the shielded Israeli soldiers, who responded with live and rubber bullets and teargas canisters.
As a result, 19 civilians injured, including 6 children; 5 were shot with live bullets and their shrapnel, 11 were shot with rubber bullets and 5 were hit with tear gas canisters.
At least one Palestinian was killed and over 14 others were injured by live bullets or rubber-coated rounds today, as Israeli forces attacked hundreds of protesters taking part in the weekly Great March of Return at Gaza-Israel border, according to medical sources.
Israeli soldiers manning the Gaza-Israel fence fired live bullets and rubber-coated steel rounds at the protesters who gathered at many encampments along the border, killing one protester who was identified as Alaa Nezar Hamdan. Over 14 protesters were also injured.
Some of the wounded were moved to hospital and others were treated in the field hospitals.
Over 310 Palestinians have been killed and about 17,000 others injured by Israeli forces since the outbreak of the Great March of Return protests at Gaza border on March 30, 2018.
The weekly protests call for lifting the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip and for the return of the Palestinian refugees to their ancestral homes in pre-1948 Palestine.
77th Great March of Return: a Palestinian Civilian Killed and 65 Injured, Including 25 Children, a Woman and a Paramedic
A Palestinian civilian was killed, and 65 others injured, including 25 children, a woman and a paramedic, as a result of Israeli attacks against peaceful protestors at the 77th Great March of Return, this Friday, 04 October 2019.
Israeli forces persisted in the use of excessive lethal force against the protestors, killing a Palestinian civilian and injuring dozens, 27 of them sustained live bullet wounds mainly in their upper bodies. PCHR documented an increased use of rubber bullets by Israeli forces as many protestors sustained minor wounds and were treated in the field.
Thousands of Palestinians participated in today’s protests across the five Great March of Return encampments in the Gaza Strip, under the slogan “Reconciliation is the People’s Choice”. The protests lasted from 15:00 to 19:00 and involved activities such as speeches and theatrical performances. Hundreds of civilians protested at varied distances from the border fence across the Gaza Strip, where some protestors attempted to throw stones, Molotov Cocktails and firecrackers at the Israeli forces, who responded with excessive force.
As a result, dozens of civilians were directly shot while other suffocated due to tear gas inhalation.
PCHR documented 213 killings by Israel since the outbreak of the protests on 30 March 2018, including 46 children, 2 women, 9 persons with disabilities, 4 paramedics and 2 journalists. Additionally, 14,115 were wounded, including 3,051 children, 430 women, 245 paramedics and 215 journalists, noting that many of those injured had sustained multiple injuries on separate occasions.
The following is a summary of today’s events along the Gaza Strip border:
Northern Gaza Strip:
At approximately 16:00, Hundreds of civilians participated in Abu Safiyah area protests, northeast of Jabalia. Speeches, theatrical performances and other segments were performed at the protest central encampment. At approximately 16:15, dozens of protestors approached the border fence, threw stones as well as firecrackers at the Israeli soldiers, who responded with live and rubber bullets and tear gas canisters. At approximately 16:35 on the same day, Israeli soldiers opened fire at civilians, who were adjacent to Abu Safiyah Gate.
As a result, ‘Ala’a Nezar ‘Ayesh Hamdan (28), from Beit Hanoun, was shot with a live bullet in the chest and he was transferred via an ambulance of Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) to the medical point where medical crews tried to resuscitate him for half an hour, with no avail. At approximately 17:05, Hamdan was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Indonesian Hospital where he was pronounced dead approximately 15 minutes later.
According to the statement of the ambulance officers, who transferred him to the medical point, Hamdan was shot in front of the main gate of Abu Safiyah area while he was about 80 – 100 meters west of the border fence. Furthermore, Israeli forces injured 12 civilians, including 9 children; 5 were shot with live bullets and their shrapnel, 5 were shot with rubber bullets, and 2 with tear gas canisters.
Gaza City:
Hundreds of protestors took part in eastern Malakah area. Speeches, theatrical performances and other segments were performed at the protest central encampment. Dozens of protestors approached the fence and threw stones with slingshots at Israeli soldiers. The soldiers fired live and rubber bullets and tear gas canisters at the protestors.
As a result, 9 civilians were injured, including 6 children: 5 were shot with live bullets and their shrapnel, 2 with rubber bullets and 2 were hit with tear gas canisters.
Central Gaza Strip:
hundreds of civilians, including women and children, took part in the eastern Bureij refugee camp protests; dozens gathered adjacent to the border fence at a range varying between 3 – 300 meters and raised the Palestinian flags. The Israeli soldiers launched a quad copter to photograph protestors, who had set fire to tires and thrown stones, sound bombs and Molotov Cocktails at the Israeli soldiers; the latter responded with live and rubber bullets and teargas canisters at them.
As a result, 15 civilians were injured, including 2 children; 10 civilians were shot with live bullets and their shrapnel, 3 with rubber bullets, and 2 with tear gas canisters.
Khan Younis:
Hundreds participated in Khuza’ah protests. Speeches, theatrical performances and other segments were performed at the protest central encampment. Tens approached the border fence and attempted to throw stones, firecrackers and Molotov Cocktails. Israeli forces fired live and rubber bullets and tear gas canisters at protestors, wounding 10 civilians, including 2 children and a paramedic and they were transferred to hospitals: 2 were shot with live bullets and their shrapnel, 3 were shot with rubber bullets and 5 were hit with tear gas canisters.
Moreover, many civilians sustained minor wounds after being hit with rubber bullets and they received medical treatment on the spot. The wounded volunteer paramedic, ‘Ali Abdul ‘Aziz Fuseifes (22), from Bani Suheila, was hit with a tear gas canister to the head.
Rafah:
1500 civilians participated in the eastern Shokah protests, where folklore songs and speeches were held in addition to commemorating Saher ‘Othman, who was killed in last week’s protests. Dozens approached the border fence and threw stones at the shielded Israeli soldiers, who responded with live and rubber bullets and teargas canisters.
As a result, 19 civilians injured, including 6 children; 5 were shot with live bullets and their shrapnel, 11 were shot with rubber bullets and 5 were hit with tear gas canisters.
27 sept 2019
Sahir Awad Allah Osman 20
One Palestinian has been killed and dozens of others have been injured by Israeli forces during yet another round of crackdown on anti-occupation protests in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Ashraf al-Qedra, the spokesman for the Gazan Health Ministry, said in a Tweet that Israeli forces wounded 63 Palestinians during the protests on Friday.
He noted 32 of the casualties were injured with live ammunition. According to the spokesman, four medics were also wounded during the 76th Friday of protests.
A 20-year-old Palestinian later succumbed to the injuries sustained during the protests.
The rallies have been held every week since March 30 last year. The Palestinians want the return of those driven out of their homeland by Israeli aggression.
Israeli troops have killed at least 307 Palestinians since the beginning of the rallies and wounded more than 18,000 others, according to the Gazan Health Ministry.
In March, a United Nations (UN) fact-finding mission found that Israeli forces committed rights violations during their crackdown against the Palestinian protesters in Gaza that may amount to war crimes.
Gaza has been under Israeli siege since June 2007, which has caused a decline in living standards.
Israel has also launched three major wars against the enclave since 2008, killing thousands of Gazans each time and shattering the impoverished territory’s already poor infrastructure.
One Palestinian has been killed and dozens of others have been injured by Israeli forces during yet another round of crackdown on anti-occupation protests in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Ashraf al-Qedra, the spokesman for the Gazan Health Ministry, said in a Tweet that Israeli forces wounded 63 Palestinians during the protests on Friday.
He noted 32 of the casualties were injured with live ammunition. According to the spokesman, four medics were also wounded during the 76th Friday of protests.
A 20-year-old Palestinian later succumbed to the injuries sustained during the protests.
The rallies have been held every week since March 30 last year. The Palestinians want the return of those driven out of their homeland by Israeli aggression.
Israeli troops have killed at least 307 Palestinians since the beginning of the rallies and wounded more than 18,000 others, according to the Gazan Health Ministry.
In March, a United Nations (UN) fact-finding mission found that Israeli forces committed rights violations during their crackdown against the Palestinian protesters in Gaza that may amount to war crimes.
Gaza has been under Israeli siege since June 2007, which has caused a decline in living standards.
Israel has also launched three major wars against the enclave since 2008, killing thousands of Gazans each time and shattering the impoverished territory’s already poor infrastructure.
25 sept 2019
Israeli soldiers gather at the scene where a Palestinian was shot dead near a check point in the the West Bank city of Hebron on 3 September 2018
Images of Palestinians girls or women lying in the middle of the road with blood seeping from their heads have become “normal” since the autumn of 2015.
Women, children and men have all become victims to be added to the growing body of statistics that the global media never stops to consider when reporting on this most asymmetric of conflicts.
They are the victims of the field executions committed by the Israeli occupation forces against Palestinians — women, children and men — at the humiliating and frequently fatal military checkpoints imposed across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The tragedy of these victims does not end with the hastily-fired gunshots; the wounded and dying are left to bleed while the soldiers sip their coffee and go about their regular activities, after “neutralising” the alleged threat.
Images and videos circulated on social media demonstrate that Israeli soldiers and police officers do little to try to arrest suspected criminals; they shoot first and, maybe, ask questions later.
It is obvious from the evidence that they are too keen to pull the trigger and shoot a target who could be as young as their own children or as old as their mothers.
It is even more of a tragedy that the victim is rarely named until hours or even days later, placing major psychological pressure on the community who have no real idea if a relative or friend has been shot and killed.
Last week, on 18 September to be precise, a Palestinian woman called Nayfa Ali Ka’abna, aged 50, was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers. tweet
She was named officially four days after she was basically executed at the Qalandiya checkpoint, north of Jerusalem. After she was shot, she was left on the side of the road in a growing pool of blood for some time.
To understand what happened to Nayfa, it is worth looking at the growing phenomenon of field executions over the past four years.
Hadeel Al-Hashlamoun was crossing through an Israeli military checkpoint in Hebron on 22 September, 2015, when she was shot. The Israeli narrative claimed that the 18 year old did not comply with the order to stop and therefore posed a danger to the soldiers.
The young woman was in her first year of university, and was known in the local neighbourhoods for her solidarity with Palestinian families affected by settler harassment. She had to cross the checkpoints repeatedly for this purpose.
On the day of the deadly attack, two soldiers ordered her to stop and then fired at least 10 bullets at her from their automatic rifles. Hadeel fell to the ground after being hit by the first bullet, but the soldiers continued to fire at her. Most of the bullets hit her chest and upper body.
The Israeli occupation army immediately claimed, as usual, that the young woman had tried to attack the soldiers with a knife, and that the heavily-armed soldiers acted “according to protocol” as their lives were in danger. Many pictures surfaced on social media proving the Israeli claim to be false.
The reality of this heinous murder was documented by a passer-by; the two soldiers opened fire on Hadeel from a distance of 4 metres and no knife was seen. The brutality of the attack was escalated by the fact that she was left on the ground for about half an hour after being shot.
Journalist Amira Hass reported the details of the crime in Haaretz on 3 November, 2015, based on documented facts which disprove the army’s narrative.
Hadeel Al-Hashlamoun’s family took the case to court, but the Israeli judicial system ensured that the army and its soldiers were acquitted, as usually happens. The family appealed, but the result was the same.
The case was closed in February 2019, with the soldiers acquitted of all charges. This was no surprise; the so-called Israeli “Defence” Forces’ story is normally accepted as the truth without question.
The world ignored the tragedy of Hadeel Al-Hashlamoun at the time, giving the occupation authorities a tacit green light to continue the field executions on the pretext that the victims “pose a danger to the lives of soldiers”.
Killing Palestinians in this way has become a recurring fact of life protected by carefully woven justifications. However, the idea of a fruit knife held by a schoolgirl, shining from afar, actually posing a threat to the lives of a group of armed soldiers wearing body armour just doesn’t ring true.
Moreover, firing numerous bullets at a girl, woman, man or boy and at a part of the body where death is almost certain to result suggests that Israeli soldiers have little or no regard for Palestinian lives.
The official Israeli version of field executions is simply not credible. It is now a fact, though, that any Palestinian going about their lawful business can expect to be shot at random if they are on foot at a military checkpoint. Make a wrong move or display any “unusual behaviour” — a very loosely-defined term — and they can face a lethal volley of bullets.
This poses an even bigger threat to those with hearing or visual impairments, or those who do not understand the gestures or orders yelled by soldiers and police officers, not least due to the different language and means of expression.
Israel’s military checkpoints may now be rooted deeply in Palestinian life, but they remain a threat to those with mental health issues or other communication difficulties. If someone has a seizure or fit at one of these checkpoints, they could pay for it with their life.
Given the number of these incidents, the Palestinians are convinced that the occupation authorities do not hesitate to justify any field execution committed by their security forces even before any investigation can take place — if it takes place at all.
The killers are not above planting a knife next to the victims lying on the ground to “prove” their dishonest narrative.
Furthermore, even if a schoolgirl is holding a knife with the intention of attacking the fully trained and armed soldiers, why are they incapable of disarming her? Shooting her when she is well beyond arms’ reach looks like an extremely disproportionate response.
As the list of “knife-wielding attackers” shot dead grows longer, how many of their intended victims were actually killed? None whatsoever.
What is certain in all of this, is that the Israeli occupation forces are able to kill Palestinians at will, and get away with it.
The uncomfortable truth absent from the propaganda pushed out by Israel and its supporters is that the killers of dozens of indigenous Palestinian men, women and children in field executions across the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem in recent years are actually members of an occupation army violating international law; they don’t deserve our sympathy.
It is their victims who live — and die — under military occupation and oppression and are deserving of whatever we can do to help them. tweet
Field executions are one of the “sovereign manifestations” that the Israeli occupation forces have monopolised at their many checkpoints intended to disrupt Palestinians in their daily lives. They impede freedom of movement, cause humiliation and provide opportunities for arrest and, as we have seen, murder.
Such serious violations led a number of anti-occupation Israelis to form a human rights group a few years ago to monitor what the security forces are doing at the checkpoints. It is called Machsom (Checkpoint) Watch, but the Israeli government is busy cracking down on groups like this one, claiming that they are “working against the state” and discrediting them.
Before we accept the Israeli excuses for the killing of Palestinians at the checkpoints, we must acknowledge the presence of occupation forces in the Palestinian territories; and that the deployment of heavily-armed troops to direct and disrupt everyday life poses a real and present threat to ordinary Palestinians of all ages, male and female alike.
No reasonable human being, let alone a member of a brutal occupation army and oppressive regime, can expect people who are deprived of their liberty, independence and control of their land and resources to pass around flowers to the soldiers who spend their days humiliating, torturing and killing them.
The Palestinians don’t need anyone to incite them to act against the occupation forces; Israel’s policies and practices in the occupied territories do that job perfectly well without any need for any input from anyone else.
The dozens of children and young people shot and killed by the occupation forces at checkpoints were eyewitnesses to the murder, arbitrary arrests, intimidation and humiliation of their families, friends and fellow citizens.
Ignoring the field executions that have taken place encourages the Israeli occupation soldiers to carry on shooting at will; we all appear to be immune to the sight of a Palestinian lying in a pool of blood for no apparent reason other than the ongoing Israeli propaganda about “incitement” and “knife attacks”.
Nayfeh Ka’abna was the latest in a growing line of victims like Hadeel Al-Hashlamoun whose blood was shed and allowed to flow into the gutter so callously by young men and women armed to the teeth with the latest weapons and ammunition.
These women were yet more victims of Israel and its ongoing occupation that the world does not care about.
Images of Palestinians girls or women lying in the middle of the road with blood seeping from their heads have become “normal” since the autumn of 2015.
Women, children and men have all become victims to be added to the growing body of statistics that the global media never stops to consider when reporting on this most asymmetric of conflicts.
They are the victims of the field executions committed by the Israeli occupation forces against Palestinians — women, children and men — at the humiliating and frequently fatal military checkpoints imposed across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The tragedy of these victims does not end with the hastily-fired gunshots; the wounded and dying are left to bleed while the soldiers sip their coffee and go about their regular activities, after “neutralising” the alleged threat.
Images and videos circulated on social media demonstrate that Israeli soldiers and police officers do little to try to arrest suspected criminals; they shoot first and, maybe, ask questions later.
It is obvious from the evidence that they are too keen to pull the trigger and shoot a target who could be as young as their own children or as old as their mothers.
It is even more of a tragedy that the victim is rarely named until hours or even days later, placing major psychological pressure on the community who have no real idea if a relative or friend has been shot and killed.
Last week, on 18 September to be precise, a Palestinian woman called Nayfa Ali Ka’abna, aged 50, was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers. tweet
She was named officially four days after she was basically executed at the Qalandiya checkpoint, north of Jerusalem. After she was shot, she was left on the side of the road in a growing pool of blood for some time.
To understand what happened to Nayfa, it is worth looking at the growing phenomenon of field executions over the past four years.
Hadeel Al-Hashlamoun was crossing through an Israeli military checkpoint in Hebron on 22 September, 2015, when she was shot. The Israeli narrative claimed that the 18 year old did not comply with the order to stop and therefore posed a danger to the soldiers.
The young woman was in her first year of university, and was known in the local neighbourhoods for her solidarity with Palestinian families affected by settler harassment. She had to cross the checkpoints repeatedly for this purpose.
On the day of the deadly attack, two soldiers ordered her to stop and then fired at least 10 bullets at her from their automatic rifles. Hadeel fell to the ground after being hit by the first bullet, but the soldiers continued to fire at her. Most of the bullets hit her chest and upper body.
The Israeli occupation army immediately claimed, as usual, that the young woman had tried to attack the soldiers with a knife, and that the heavily-armed soldiers acted “according to protocol” as their lives were in danger. Many pictures surfaced on social media proving the Israeli claim to be false.
The reality of this heinous murder was documented by a passer-by; the two soldiers opened fire on Hadeel from a distance of 4 metres and no knife was seen. The brutality of the attack was escalated by the fact that she was left on the ground for about half an hour after being shot.
Journalist Amira Hass reported the details of the crime in Haaretz on 3 November, 2015, based on documented facts which disprove the army’s narrative.
Hadeel Al-Hashlamoun’s family took the case to court, but the Israeli judicial system ensured that the army and its soldiers were acquitted, as usually happens. The family appealed, but the result was the same.
The case was closed in February 2019, with the soldiers acquitted of all charges. This was no surprise; the so-called Israeli “Defence” Forces’ story is normally accepted as the truth without question.
The world ignored the tragedy of Hadeel Al-Hashlamoun at the time, giving the occupation authorities a tacit green light to continue the field executions on the pretext that the victims “pose a danger to the lives of soldiers”.
Killing Palestinians in this way has become a recurring fact of life protected by carefully woven justifications. However, the idea of a fruit knife held by a schoolgirl, shining from afar, actually posing a threat to the lives of a group of armed soldiers wearing body armour just doesn’t ring true.
Moreover, firing numerous bullets at a girl, woman, man or boy and at a part of the body where death is almost certain to result suggests that Israeli soldiers have little or no regard for Palestinian lives.
The official Israeli version of field executions is simply not credible. It is now a fact, though, that any Palestinian going about their lawful business can expect to be shot at random if they are on foot at a military checkpoint. Make a wrong move or display any “unusual behaviour” — a very loosely-defined term — and they can face a lethal volley of bullets.
This poses an even bigger threat to those with hearing or visual impairments, or those who do not understand the gestures or orders yelled by soldiers and police officers, not least due to the different language and means of expression.
Israel’s military checkpoints may now be rooted deeply in Palestinian life, but they remain a threat to those with mental health issues or other communication difficulties. If someone has a seizure or fit at one of these checkpoints, they could pay for it with their life.
Given the number of these incidents, the Palestinians are convinced that the occupation authorities do not hesitate to justify any field execution committed by their security forces even before any investigation can take place — if it takes place at all.
The killers are not above planting a knife next to the victims lying on the ground to “prove” their dishonest narrative.
Furthermore, even if a schoolgirl is holding a knife with the intention of attacking the fully trained and armed soldiers, why are they incapable of disarming her? Shooting her when she is well beyond arms’ reach looks like an extremely disproportionate response.
As the list of “knife-wielding attackers” shot dead grows longer, how many of their intended victims were actually killed? None whatsoever.
What is certain in all of this, is that the Israeli occupation forces are able to kill Palestinians at will, and get away with it.
The uncomfortable truth absent from the propaganda pushed out by Israel and its supporters is that the killers of dozens of indigenous Palestinian men, women and children in field executions across the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem in recent years are actually members of an occupation army violating international law; they don’t deserve our sympathy.
It is their victims who live — and die — under military occupation and oppression and are deserving of whatever we can do to help them. tweet
Field executions are one of the “sovereign manifestations” that the Israeli occupation forces have monopolised at their many checkpoints intended to disrupt Palestinians in their daily lives. They impede freedom of movement, cause humiliation and provide opportunities for arrest and, as we have seen, murder.
Such serious violations led a number of anti-occupation Israelis to form a human rights group a few years ago to monitor what the security forces are doing at the checkpoints. It is called Machsom (Checkpoint) Watch, but the Israeli government is busy cracking down on groups like this one, claiming that they are “working against the state” and discrediting them.
Before we accept the Israeli excuses for the killing of Palestinians at the checkpoints, we must acknowledge the presence of occupation forces in the Palestinian territories; and that the deployment of heavily-armed troops to direct and disrupt everyday life poses a real and present threat to ordinary Palestinians of all ages, male and female alike.
No reasonable human being, let alone a member of a brutal occupation army and oppressive regime, can expect people who are deprived of their liberty, independence and control of their land and resources to pass around flowers to the soldiers who spend their days humiliating, torturing and killing them.
The Palestinians don’t need anyone to incite them to act against the occupation forces; Israel’s policies and practices in the occupied territories do that job perfectly well without any need for any input from anyone else.
The dozens of children and young people shot and killed by the occupation forces at checkpoints were eyewitnesses to the murder, arbitrary arrests, intimidation and humiliation of their families, friends and fellow citizens.
Ignoring the field executions that have taken place encourages the Israeli occupation soldiers to carry on shooting at will; we all appear to be immune to the sight of a Palestinian lying in a pool of blood for no apparent reason other than the ongoing Israeli propaganda about “incitement” and “knife attacks”.
Nayfeh Ka’abna was the latest in a growing line of victims like Hadeel Al-Hashlamoun whose blood was shed and allowed to flow into the gutter so callously by young men and women armed to the teeth with the latest weapons and ammunition.
These women were yet more victims of Israel and its ongoing occupation that the world does not care about.