December 21, 2021: Abdul-Aziz Hikmat Mousa, 22, was killed by Israeli soldiers at Dothan military roadblock, near Ya’bad town, southwest of Jenin in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.
Israeli sources claimed the Palestinian fired shots from his car at a military vehicle at the roadblock causing it to catch on fire. No injuries were reported among the soldiers.
It alleged that, as he approached the roadblock, he rammed his car into the burning military vehicle before the soldiers opened fire on him causing his car to ignite as well.
The Israeli army also prevented Palestinian ambulances from reaching the area, and installed many roadblocks around it, in addition to many villages and towns, south of Jenin.
Firefighters arrived to put out the conflagration and found Mousa had passed away in his car and his corpse was burnt inside his car.
Military roadblocks are historically extremely dangerous for Palestinians and are often the stage for extrajudicial killings under various allegations.
“Even in the worst-case scenario of an intentional car-ramming, the Israeli officers who shot this unarmed civilian while he was trying to run in the opposite direction violated Israel’s own rules of engagement that stipulate using lethal force only and strictly when necessary to repel a direct threat to life,” reports Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor.
After the soldiers killed Abdul-Aziz, hundreds of Palestinians marched towards his family’s home while chanting against the illegal Israeli occupation and calling on the International Community to hold Israel accountable for its crimes.
On June 23, 2020, the soldiers killed Ahmad Mustafa Erekat, 26, at the “Container” military roadblock, northeast of Bethlehem, while he was preparing for his sister’s wedding that was scheduled to take place later that day.
The soldiers claimed that Ahmad ‘tried to ram them with his car’ – a claim that his family says is beyond ridiculous.
The head of Abu Dis Town Council, Ahmad Abu Hilal, said the soldiers shot Ahmad with multiple rounds and left him to bleed to death, before taking his corpse away.
Abu Hilal added that Ahmad was driving to Bethlehem city to fetch his sisters and his mother from a hairdressing shop in Bethlehem, as the family was preparing for the wedding of one of his sisters, which was supposed to take place on the same day.
Abdul-Aziz was from Marka village, south of the northern West Bank city of Jenin. Source: IMEMC