West Bank (Israeli) Archives - Page 6 of 10

Yotam Ovadia

July 27, 2018August 13, 2018 contact@ifamericansknew.org

July 27, 2018: Yotam Ovadia, 31, succumbed to stab wounds sustained when a Palestinian teenager climbed the fence into the settlement colony of ‘Adam’ and stabbed Yotam and two others.

Yotam was the father of two young children, age 2 and 7 months, and worked as a technician with “Brinks Security Company”.

The Palestinian assailant, identified as Mohammad Tareq dar Yousef, 17, allegedly managed to climb over the fence into the illegal Israeli settlement of “Adam”, which had been built on stolen Palestinian land which was taken from his village, Kobar, near Ramallah. He then stabbed three people before he was shot and killed.

Another unnamed Israeli settler, age 50, ended up in critical condition with stab wounds to the upper body, according to Israeli media sources.

Before going to the settlement to carry out the attack, the young Palestinian wrote on his Facebook page, “After all of the injustice the Palestinians continue to face: the killing, the diaspora, the theft of land by force, this injustice still prevails, and many Palestinians are silent – including those who have weapons, and are watching the massacres. Those are the traitors.”

He goes on to say, “You [Palestinians] who own a weapon, remember this is for your enemy, not for use against your own people. Remember the children of Gaza, suffering and dying.” The statement ends, “A salute to the people who defend their land and their honor. And to those who sold their land and betrayed their country, those cowards, you must be ashamed of yourselves. The people of Gaza and Jerusalem are resisting, and you are trying to silence them.”

Dozens of soldiers in armored vehicles surrounded and invaded Kobar, near Ramallah, in the hours following this incident. Protests broke out in the village, and some teens threw stones at the invading soldiers.

The troops invaded Mohammad’s home, surrounding it and demanding that the family leave.

Over the one hundred days that preceded this attack, Palestinians in Gaza engaged in largely non-violent protests on a weekly basis in Gaza as part of the ‘Great March of Return’, calling for a return of the Palestinian refugees to their homes in what is now Israel, and an end to the siege on Gaza that has strangled the economy of the tiny coastal strip since 2007.

Israeli forces killed nearly 150 Palestinian demonstrators during this time, and wounded more than 17,000, many with live ammunition. One Israeli was killed in this time period, in May, by a stone slab that fell on him from a building in a Palestinian town he was invading in the West Bank. The Palestinian resistance in Gaza mainly held its fire in solidarity with the non-violent demonstrators, but the Friday before this stabbing took place, a firefight broke out and an Israeli soldier and four Palestinian fighters were killed.

Yotam was from the settlement of Adam, located in the West Bank. Source: IMEMC

Ronen Lubarsky

May 26, 2018August 14, 2018 contact@ifamericansknew.org

May 26, 2018: Ronen Lubarsky, 20, was an Israeli soldier who was severely injured Thursday morning while invading a Palestinian refugee camp, when Palestinians dropped a stone slab on his head from the roof of a third-story building. On Saturday, Ronen died of his wounds.

The incident took place at the al-Am’ari refugee camp near Ramallah, in the central part of the West Bank.

After his death, Israeli authorities quickly mobilized to put together a patriotic funeral that same evening. Hundreds of people attended, including Ronen’s brother, who gave a eulogy in which he said, “Wild animals were waiting for you on the rooftops. I pray to God that our leaders, who I love, will do something about it.” By ‘wild animals’, he was referring to Palestinians.

The funeral was a military service, which took place on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on Saturday night.

Ronen was a member of the ‘Duvdevan unit’ of the Israeli army, known for its extrajudicial assassinations of Palestinian suspects.

The head of the unit praised Ronen during the service, saying that he had “participated in a great number of operations to capture terrorists”

After the stone slab fell on Ronen Thursday morning, he was rushed to the hospital, where he remained in critical condition until his death on Saturday.

The refugee camp that he was invading, along with other members of his unit, was put under a 24-hour curfew in the days following his injury, with no one allowed to leave or enter. But Israeli soldiers have until now been unable to identify or apprehend the suspects who, they claim, pushed the stone slab off the roof onto Ronen.

Ronen was from Rehovot. Source: IMEMC

Adiel Coleman

March 18, 2018March 19, 2018 contact@ifamericansknew.org

March 18, 2018: Adiel Coleman, 32, was stabbed in the chest in Jerusalem’s Old City and succumbed to his wounds later the same day.

The Palestinian accused of the attack, 28-year-old Abdul-Rahman Bani Fadel, was fatally shot by Israeli police in the immediate aftermath of the stabbing.

Adiel Coleman worked as a security guard in the Old City of Jerusalem, but lived in the Israeli settlement Kochav Hashachar.

He was a father of four children. The Palestinian who was killed at the scene, Abdul-Rahman Fadel, was also a father. He lived with his wife and two children in the West Bank village of Aqraba.

The incident took place on Haggay St., near the entrance to the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Initial reports from Israel’s Channel 10 television stated that Turkish identity papers were found on the body of the alleged assailant. But the Israeli military later changed that report, saying that Fadel, a Palestinian from the West Bank, was the attacker in the stabbing.

An Israeli police spokesman confirmed the attack, near the Western Wall, and said the assailant was “neutralized”.

Israeli police blocked all gates leading to the Old City of Jerusalem, along with roads and streets adjacent to the historic walls of Jerusalem, and blocked Qalandia and Jaba’a military checkpoints in the aftermath of the alleged attack, amid high tension and heavy deployment of troops near Jerusalem’s walls and inside the Old City of Jerusalem.

Adiel was from the settlement of Kochav Hashachar settlement, in the central part of the West Bank. Source: IMEMC

Netanel Kahalani

March 17, 2018March 19, 2018 contact@ifamericansknew.org

March 16, 2018: Netanel Kahalani, 20, was killed when an automobile collided with him and another soldier who were standing at a military roadblock in Barta’a village in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.

In addition to Sergeant Kahalani, Lieutenant Ziv Daus, 21 was also killed in the collision.

Israeli Ynet News said Daus was a company commander of army’s “search and rescue” brigade, while Kahalani was a driver in the Menashe Brigade.

The soldiers were killed near Barta’a military roadblock, close to Jenin in northern West Bank, when a Palestinian driver, identified as Ala’ Rateb Qabha, 26, crashed into the roadblock.

Ala’ suffered light-to-moderate wounds, in addition to wounding two other soldiers.

The Israeli army claimed that the fatal incident was a deliberate attack targeting the soldiers at the military roadblock, and raided the family home of the Palestinian driver, before violently searching the property and interrogating the family.

But the family of Ala’ denied that claim, saying that the young man was not politically involved in any way, and the collision was a car accident, not an attack.

The day after the fatal vehicular collision, the army announced it plans to recommend that the Israeli government split the village of Barta’a in two, and determined a series of collective punishment measures, including constant invasions, and isolating the village.

Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and several members of his cabinet, vowed to demolish the home of the Palestinian driver, while the Israeli Internal Security claimed that “all indications, and the interrogation of the driver, points towards a nationally motivated attack,” a term used to refer to incidents directly related to the ongoing Israeli military occupation of Palestine.

Israel’s illegal policies of collective punishment, including demolishing the homes of Palestinians accused of killing Israelis, or wounding them, and even those accused of carrying out attacks, such as shootings and hurling Molotov cocktails at the military or colonialist settlers, has been widely implemented since Israel occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 1967.

The Israeli Committee against House Demolitions (ICAHD) has reported that Israeli demolished 351 homes and structures, and displaced 528 Palestinians in the year 2017, and added that the number of demolished structures in the occupied West Bank since 1967 is 78,743.

Netanel was from Elyakim Moshav, in the Megiddo Regional Council, in the northern part of Israel. Source: IMEMC

Ziv Daus

March 17, 2018March 19, 2018 contact@ifamericansknew.org

March 16, 2018: Ziv Daus, 21, was killed when an automobile collided with him and another soldier who were standing at a military roadblock in Barta’a village in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.

In addition to Lieutenant Daus, Sergeant Netanel Kahalani, 20, was also killed in the collision.

Israeli Ynet News said Daus was a company commander of army’s “search and rescue” brigade, while Kahalani was a driver in the Menashe Brigade.

The soldiers were killed near Barta’a military roadblock, close to Jenin in northern West Bank, when a Palestinian driver, identified as Ala’ Rateb Qabha, 26, crashed into the roadblock.

Ala’ suffered light-to-moderate wounds, in addition to wounding two other soldiers.

But the family of Ala’ denied that claim, saying that the young man was not politically involved in any way, and the collision was a car accident, not an attack.

Ziv was from Azur town near Tel Aviv. Source: IMEMC

Itamar Ben Gal

February 5, 2018February 6, 2018 Mark

February 05, 2018: Itamar Ben Gal, 29, was killed in a stabbing attack outside an entrance to ‘Ariel’ settlement in the central part of the West Bank.

According to Israeli sources, surveillance video shows the assailant getting off of a shared taxi near the entrance to Ariel, the largest Israeli settlement in the West Bank.

The assailant then allegedly approached Ben Gal, who was standing at a hitchhiking post for Israeli settlers, and stabbed him several times before fleeing.

Following the killing of the Israeli settler, Israeli forces carried out a wide-scale search campaign in several villages and towns located to the north of Salfit, blocked roads and declared these areas to be closed military zones, according to local sources.

Ben Gal taught at two religious Jewish seminaries, both of them located in Israeli settlements: one in Givat Smuel, and the other in Har Bracha settlement, according to the Israeli daily Haaretz.

Ben Gal was transferred to hospital, with critical injuries in his upper extremities, where he succumbed to his wounds shortly after.

The Israeli daily, Haaretz, reported that Abdul-Hakim’s mother is from Haifa, while his father is from Nablus, in the northern West Bank.

In the aftermath of the fatal stabbing, dozens of Israeli paramilitary settlers gathered along roads in the area around Salfit, and the entrances to the villages of Hares and Kifl Hares, and attacked passing Palestinian cars with stones.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement following the death of the settler, saying that Israeli military forces “are in pursuit of the murderers. We will exact our judgment.”

The Hamas party also issued a statement, saying the attack is a direct response to Donald Trump’s unilateral declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel — a declaration that effectively denies the existence of over a million Palestinians who live in Jerusalem.

Itamar was from Har Bracha settlement, in the northern part of the West Bank. Source: IMEMC

Raziel Shevach

January 9, 2018January 10, 2018 contact@ifamericansknew.org

January 9, 2018: Raziel Shevach, 35, an Israeli settler, was shot and killed Tuesday while driving near a colonial outpost, near Nablus, in the northern part of the West Bank.

The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that Dr. Guy Elad, a doctor at the Meir Medical Center, told their reporter that the victim “arrived at the hospital without a pulse, with no breath and no life signals.

“He was rushed to the trauma room, where advanced resuscitation actions were performed and unfortunately despite our efforts his death was determined.”

The gunman or gunmen who fired the fatal shots fled the scene, and Israeli forces have locked down all nearby Palestinian villages and towns, preventing Palestinian civilians from going anywhere outside their homes.

The soldiers are also conducting house-to-house searches in the town of Jit, which is the town whose land was illegally annexed by Israel, to construct the Israeli settler-only road, and the colonialist outpost of Havat Gilad.

In addition, the Israeli military has closed the entrances to the city of Nablus, and are preventing all entry and exit from the city. The closure wreaked havoc on the evening commute for students and workers, many of whom were forced to remain in their workplaces or schools overnight after being prevented from returning home.

Shevach, who lived in Havat Gilad, was driving on Route 60, which is a major Israeli highway constructed on Palestinian land in the West Bank, when he was shot at by a passing vehicle. Palestinians are forbidden from driving on Route 60 without first obtaining hard-to-get Israeli permits.

Even with permits, Palestinian drivers are frequently subjected to stops and seizures of their vehicles and licenses by Israeli police and soldiers when they drive on Route 60 and other colonial Israeli byways.

Abu Obeida, the spokesperson of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said the “Nablus shooting is the first retaliation with live fire, and comes to remind the enemy, and those who support it, that what is coming is much bigger – what you fear is yet to come, the West Bank will remain a dagger in your abdomen.”

Following the fatal shooting, the Israeli army imposed a strict siege on all villages and towns in the Nablus governorate, and invaded many villages, including Sorra, Iraq-Burin, and all southern areas, including New Nablus, al-Makhfiyya, before initiating extensive searches and confiscated surveillance tapes and equipment.

The army deployed a large number of soldiers in Nablus, in addition to calling for more military units to operate in the governorate, in preparation for a massive invasion and military operations.

Israeli media outlets said that the military received orders for carrying out a large-scale military operation, inside many villages and towns, in Nablus.

Meanwhile, dozens of colonist settlers closed Yitzhar road, while dozens more gathers at the Huwwara military roadblock, south of Nablus, before throwing rocks at dozens of Palestinian cars.

Palestinian medical sources said a young man from ‘Awarta village, suffered various cuts and bruises after being attacked by Israeli settlers.

It is worth mentioning that the Israeli army have killed 32 Palestinians, including two children, since early October 2017. Shevach is the first Israeli casualty since then.

Raziel was from Gilad, an Israeli outpost near Nablus in the northern part of the West Bank. Source: IMEMC.

Reuven Shmerling

October 4, 2017November 17, 2020 contact@ifamericansknew.org

October 4th, 2017: Reuven Shmerling, 70, was stabbed to death in a coal warehouse he owned, in the Kafr Qasem Industrial Zone. Two Palestinians who were his employees were later convicted of the attack.

Reuven was from the Israeli settlement of Elkana, a colony of around 700 people located on illegally-seized Palestinian land in the West Bank.

He was attacked by the two employees, who told prosecutors in the trial that they had been repeatedly insulted by Shmerling, and decided to attack him.

There was no indication that their murder of their employer was politically motivated, although the Israeli intelligence service Shin Bet said they had evidence that it was politically motivated. That evidence was never presented in the trial.

Reuven was from Elkana settlement.

Or Arish

September 26, 2017September 26, 2017 contact@ifamericansknew.org

September 26, 2017: Or Arish, 25, was killed by a Palestinian man who opened fire at soldiers and security officers in Har Hadar Israeli settlement, northwest of Jerusalem.

The Palestinian man, identified as Nimir Mahmoud Jamal, 37, from Beit Surik village, northwest of Jerusalem, was killed by Israeli fire, after he killed Or along with Solomon Gabrieh, 20, a First Sgt. with the border police, and security officer, Youssef Othman, 20. Or was also a security officer.

The Israeli army stated that its initial investigation revealed that the Palestinian arrived at the rear entrance of the settlement, along with a group of Palestinian workers, before he carried out the attack.

It added that the Border Guards ordered the Palestinian to stop after suspecting him, but he pulled out a concealed gun and opened fire, killing the three officers and wounding the security coordinator of Har Hadar settlement, who suffered a serious injury, and a 32-year-old man who was seriously injured, but the doctors at Hadassah Israeli Medical Center in Jerusalem said his wounds were not live threatening.

Israeli soldiers and Border Police forces encircled the Beit Surik and nearby areas, in the aftermath of the shooting, and enforced a curfew in Beit Surik. Or was from Har Adar. Source: IMEMC

Solomon Gabrieh

September 26, 2017September 26, 2017 contact@ifamericansknew.org

September 26, 2017: Solomon Gabrieh, 20, was killed by a Palestinian man who opened fire at soldiers and security officers in Har Hadar Israeli settlement, northwest of Jerusalem.

The Palestinian man, identified as Nimir Mahmoud Jamal, 37, from Beit Surik village, northwest of Jerusalem, was killed by Israeli fire, after he killed Salomon, along with security guards Youssef Othman a Palestinian from Abu Ghosh, west of Jerusalem, and Or Arish, 25, from Har Adar.

The Israeli army said that its initial investigation revealed that the Palestinian arrived at the rear entrance of the settlement, along with a group of Palestinian workers, before he carried out the attack.

The army added that the Border Guards ordered the Palestinian to stop after suspecting him, and that he then pulled out a concealed gun and opened fire, killing the three officers and wounding two Israelis, including the security coordinator of Har Hadar settlement, who suffered serious injuries.

The other wounded Israeli, a 32-year-old man was seriously injured, but the doctors at Hadassah Israeli Medical Center in Jerusalem said his wounds were not live threatening.

Israeli soldiers and Border Police forces encircled the Beit Surik and nearby areas, in the aftermath of the shooting and enforced a curfew in Beit Surik.

Solomon, a First Sgt. with the border police, was from Be’er Yaakov town, in central Israel. Source: IMEMC