Barel Hadaria Shmueli

August 30th, 2021: Barel Hadaria Shmueli, 21, died from a critical gunshot injury that he sustained along the border wall with Gaza nine days earlier.

Barel, an Israeli Border Police officer from Be’er Ya’akov, was on duty as a sniper, shooting unarmed Palestinians, including children, who were gathered near the border wall. One of the 41 Palestinian protesters who were shot that day was a 12-year old child who was shot in the head and later died of his injury.

As he stuck his rifle through a hole in the border wall, Shmueli was shot and00 critically wounded on August 21st . First, the protesters tried to stop the shooting by grabbing at the rifle that Barel kept sticking through the hole. Some tried throwing stones at the rifle and finally, an armed Palestinian with a handgun walked up to the sniper hole in the heavily fortified wall and fired his weapon.

The Israeli media stated that the soldier sustained a life threatening gunshot wound to the head, and despite undergoing emergency surgery, he remained on a ventilator at Soroka Medical Center in critical condition, until he was pronounced dead.

The same day, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Israeli soldiers shot and injured 41 Palestinian civilians, with live rounds and teargas canisters, including a twelve-year-old child who was shot in the head. The child, identified as Omar Hasan Abu an-Neel, 12, remained in critical condition until he succumbed to his serious wounds on August 28th.

Omar Hasan Abu an-Neel, 12, shot by Israeli Forces – Gaza

Furthermore, just days later, Israeli forces shot 14 Palestinians, while drones dropped teargas canisters at those gathered east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, 14 people were shot and wounded on August 25th, adding that 5 were shot with live rounds, suffering moderate injuries; 2 were shot with rubber-coated steel rounds; and 7 were shot with teargas canisters.

Quds Press’s correspondent said that the soldiers, stationed along the security fence stood behind earth mounds, far away from the protesters, which shows that there was no reason for the use of live rounds.

Barel was from Be’er Ya’akov in Israel. Source: IMEMC