March Archives - Israel-Palestine Timeline

March 22, 2020: Sofian Nawwaf al-Khawaja, 29, was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers near the entrance of Ni’lin village, west of the central West Bank city of Ramallah.

Medical sources said the soldiers shot Sofian during an invasion of the area, causing a very serious injury that resulted in his death shortly afterward.

They added that the soldiers stopped and held a Palestinian ambulance that was rushing to render aid to the Palestinian.

Instead of allowing the Palestinian medics to render the urgently needed aid to the critically wounded young man, the soldiers called for an Israeli ambulance while al-Khawaja continued to bleed.

The Israeli army claimed that the soldiers opened fire at several Palestinians who reportedly hurled stones at their jeeps.

However, Palestinian sources said the slain Palestinian was not among the protesters but happened to be passing through the area along with his cousin.

Israeli daily Haaretz quoted a military spokesperson stating that the soldiers opened fire at two Palestinians who were “hurling rocks at Israeli vehicles at the Ni’lin junction,” and added that the soldiers “killed one of them, while the other Palestinian managed to escape.”

Haaretz added that the army initiated a search campaign in the area.

Sofian was from Nil’in, in the central West Bank. Source: IMEMC

March 11, 2020: Mohammad Abdul-Karim Hamayel, 15, was killed by Israeli soldiers, and 112 wounded, as the Israeli army cracked down on protesters at the al-‘Arma Mountain, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said the child, Mohammad Abdul-Karim Hamayel, 15, was shot with an expanding bullet in the head, and he was rushed to a local hospital before succumbing to his serious wounds.

Tarif Ashour, the spokesperson of the Health Ministry, said at least thirteen Palestinians were rushed to Rafidia governmental hospital, including another child, seventeen years of age, who was shot with two rubber-coated steel bullets in his head, before he was rushed to surgery, and remains in critical condition.

Shortly afterward, the soldiers shot two Palestinians with rubber-coated steel bullets in their heads, causing hemorrhaging in the brain; one of them remains in life-threatening condition.

In addition, a journalist working for the Palestinian TV, identified as Bakr Abdul-Haq, was shot with a rubber-coated steel bullet in his lead, and at least thirteen other residents were shot with similar rounds.

The total number of injuries stood at more than 112 Palestinians in the past two days — among them 90 who suffered the severe effects of teargas inhalation, and eighteen who were shot with rubber-coated steel bullets.

The soldiers also abducted at least three young men, after more than 40 additional military vehicles invaded the area.

The protests are still ongoing as more soldiers and fanatic illegal colonists continue to flock to the mountain and prevented many Palestinian ambulances from approaching it.

The head of the Beita Fuad Maali Village Council told Wafa reporters that scores of illegal Israeli colonists began storming the mountain last night and are still in the place, explaining that hundreds of Palestinian citizens remain stationed on the mountain to repel their invasion.

Ghassan Douglas, a Palestinian Authority official who monitors Israel’s colonialist activities, said that there have been calls by colonists to storm the mountain, in an attempt to control an archaeological historical site above its summit, and install an illegal colony after occupying the entire Palestinian Mountain.

It is reported that the residents of the village, and the neighboring towns and villages, responded to previous attempts by the settlers to storm the top of the mountain two weeks ago.

Mohammad was from the Nablus district, in the northern West Bank. Source: IMEMC