December

Naim Mahmoud Bedir

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NaimDecember 23, 2022: Naim Mahmoud Theeb Bedir, 23, was shot and killed by Israeli police before dawn in Kafr Qassem, in the Southern Triangle area (inside the undeclared borders of what is now Israel), claiming that he was trying to carry out a ramming attack against the police.

The man’s family rejected the Israeli narrative, saying, “The Israeli police killed our son in cold blood, and the police story that he tried to attack them is false.”

The family told reporters, “The Israeli police, after killing our son Naim in cold blood, stormed our home and ransacked all our belongings in front of the children, who were screaming and crying, terrified as the soldiers destroyed our home.”

During the home invasion, the Israeli police abducted several of Naim’s family members to bring them back to the police station for questioning. Israeli forces are known for their torture techniques, which they call ‘enhanced interrogation.’

The police claimed that Badir called the police, saying that a violent incident had occurred, but that when the police arrived, he ran towards them with a weapon and then got into his car and drove toward the police, mildly injuring two.

The police further claimed that two of its members were slightly injured and were subsequently transferred to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva. The police spokesperson said that the district commander then arrived at the site and conducted a field assessment of the situation.

The police then deployed dozens of its members in the village of Kafr Qassem, sent reinforcements, including members of the special units, and turned the city into a military base, according to local sources.

According to the Israeli police, a search of a building near where Badir was killed turned up “a weapon, ammunition, Molotov cocktails, and a knife.” But there is no evidence that Badir was in that building.

A video clip taken from the scene shows a number of Israeli police officers shooting live rounds into a Palestinian vehicle as it is moving backward.

The Israeli police said that they considered the incident in Kafr Qassem as a “hostile sabotage operation,” noting that after the attack, the police conducted searches for other suspects.

Naim was from Kafr Qassem, in what is now Israel. Source: IMEMC

Ahmad Atef Mustafa Daraghma

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December 22, 2022: Ahmad Atef Mustafa Daraghma, 23, was killed by Israeli soldiers who invaded the eastern area of Nablus city in the northern part of the occupied West Bank and also injured thirty-seven Palestinians, three seriously.

The invasion led to protests before the army fired a barrage of live rounds, rubber-coated steel bullets, gas bombs, and concussion grenades.

Medical sources said the soldiers killed Ahmad, from Tubas in the northeastern West Bank, after shooting him with two live rounds in the back and one in the leg.

Ahmad was an athlete and a known soccer player with the Thaqafi Club in Tulkarem, in the northern part of the West Bank.

They added that the soldiers also shot six Palestinians with live fire, including three who suffered life-threatening wounds, three who were injured by shrapnel, and two who were shot with rubber-coated steel bullets in the eye and the arm, in addition to at least 29 who suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation.

Ahmad Daraghma

Media sources in Nablus said dozens of armored military vehicles, including one bulldozer, invaded the city’s eastern area to accompany illegal Israeli colonizers into Joseph Tomb and closed many streets, leading to massive protests.

In a brief statement, the Lion’s Den resistance group said that its fighters exchanged fire with the invading Israeli soldiers and hurled pipe bombs at their vehicles.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh denounced Daraghma’s killing and called on FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) to condemn Israel for killing Palestinian athletes.

Shtayyeh also called on the international community and human rights groups to intervene and help end the illegal Israeli occupation and its ongoing crimes against the Palestinian people and to prosecute Israel for its war crime.

It is worth mentioning that the army frequently invades the eastern area of Nablus to accompany the colonists into the Joseph’s Tomb historic site, an issue that leads to protests, in addition to the ongoing invasions of homes and the abduction of many Palestinians.

Joseph, the patriarch, is revered by Jews, Muslims, Christians, and Samaritans alike; however, the Israeli military allows Jews to visit as part of organized pilgrimages, despite the site being in Area A, where the PA has full control and prohibits Muslims from worshiping at the site.

Ultra-orthodox and nationalist Jews regularly try to visit the shrine without approval, as many Jews believe the tomb to be the final resting place of the biblical figure in the Old Testament.

Palestinians believe Joseph’s Tomb is the funerary monument to Sheikh Yousif Dweikat, a local religious figure.

Ahmad was from Tubas in the northeastern part of the occupied West Bank. Source: IMEMC

Nasser Mohammad Abu Hmeid

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December 20, 2022: Nasser Mohammad Abu Hmeid, 50, died at an Israeli medical center from cancer that went untreated professionally during his years of imprisonment by Israel.

The Palestinian Detainees’ Committee confirmed that the cancer-stricken Palestinian detainee, Nasser Abu Hmeid, imprisoned by Israel and serving several life terms, has died at an Israeli medical center.

The Committee said Nasser Abu Hmeid, 50, was moved from the Ramla prison clinic to Assaf Harofeh Israeli medical center after suffering serious complications and died at the hospital.

Abu Hmeid’s condition started declining in August of last year, 2021, when he complained of pain in the chest and was diagnosed with lung cancer.

Israeli surgeons removed about 100 centimeters from the area of his tumor and moved him back to Asqalan prison despite his urgent need for chemotherapy and other treatment.

He was left without treatment for some time before the doctors decided he urgently needed chemotherapy and other treatment, but the prison authority kept delaying his transfer to a hospital and denied him the potentially life-saving treatment.

Shortly before his death, Nasser was able to undergo more chemotherapy treatment, but his cancer has already spread and become terminal.

Over the past several months, many human rights and legal groups filed appeals with Israeli courts demanding Nasser’s release to receive treatment at a Palestinian medical center close to his family, but Israel denied all appeals.

Nasser was serving seven life terms and additional fifty years in prison; he was abducted for the first time in the year 1987 and was imprisoned for four months; he was abducted again and sentenced to two and a half years.

Nasser was abducted for the third time in 1990 and was sentenced to life in prison, but was released as part of direct Palestinian-Israeli talks; however, not long after, the army abducted him before he was sentenced to several life terms.

Nasser is also the brother of Abdul-Mon’em Abu Hmeid, who was killed by the Israeli army on May 31, 1994, in addition to Nasr Abu Hmeid, who is serving four life terms in Israeli prisons, Sharif, serving four life terms, Mohammad, serving two life terms and thirty years, and Islam who is serving a life term and eight years in prison.

The Abu Hmeid family home was demolished by Israel five times, and his mother was barred from visiting her imprisoned sons, especially Nasser, for several years; their father also died without seeing his sons.

It is worth mentioning that Nasser was born in 1972 in the Nusseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip before his family moved to the West Bank.

The Ad-Dameer Prisoner Support And Human Rights Association has reported that Abu Hmeid passed away from advanced lung cancer while held captive in Ramleh Prison Clinic—a carceral clinic known for its systemic human rights abuses enacted toward sick and ill Palestinian prisoners. Abu Hamid’s passing is thus a direct consequence of the Israeli Prison Service’s ongoing and deliberate practice of medical negligence.

Ad-Dameer said: “The Israeli occupation authorities blatantly violate international norms and conventions related to protecting and providing care for Palestinian prisoners experiencing illness.

International humanitarian law guarantees the provision of necessary medical care to patients. Articles 76 and 91 of the Fourth Geneva Convention stipulate the right of sick detainees to receive necessary medical care, maintain a healthy diet, and have access to necessary medical examinations.

Despite such laws, statistics compiled by human rights organizations indicate that the number of sick Palestinian detainees and prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons is currently around 600, with over 200 prisoners with chronic diseases and 24 prisoners diagnosed with cancer and other serious illnesses. Since 1967, with the death of Nasser Abu Hamid, the total number of Palestinian prisoners who have passed away in Israeli occupation prisons has reached 233—74 of whom have passed away as a result of medical negligence.

Compounding their crimes of medical neglect, Israeli occupation forces continue to withhold the bodies of the now-eleven Palestinian prisoners who have been martyred. By withholding bodies, Israel inflicts severe psychological pain on the deceased person’s family. As such, Nasser’s family does not know when his body will be released for proper burial. Further, Nasser has four brothers—all of whom are also currently held in Israeli occupation prisons and are subjected to the same harsh conditions of detention and medical neglect he experienced prior to his passing. To add to the family’s suffering, Nasser’s family’s house was demolished several times—most recently in 2019.

By granting constant impunity to Israel, the international community has failed to protect Nasser Abu Hamid and allow him a humane and dignified passing at home surrounded by his family and loved ones. Yet Nasser, at the end of his life and in the face of the decades of violence he had experienced, remained true to his principles of resilience. Nasser refused his legal counsel’s advice to submit a pardon to the Israeli Military Commander in the West Bank to consider his release—instead choosing to pass without submitting to the demands of the Israeli Occupation Forces. In these difficult times, Addameer stands in solidarity with Abu Hamid’s family.”

Seventy-four of the deceased detainees died due to medical neglect after Israel denied them the right to adequate and professional medical attention; one of them, Sa’diyya Farajallah, 68, had diabetes and high blood pressure, diabetes, a heart condition, and various chronic illnesses, and was taking various medications before she was taken prisoner and was denied the right to medical treatment.

Israel holds at least 4700 Palestinians captive, including 150 children and 33 women. About 600 detainees are sick, including 24 who suffer from cancers and tumors of various degrees.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) said Israel is refusing to release 600 ailing detainees, including 200 who have chronic conditions that require constant medications and follow-up and 24 who have various forms of cancer and need specialized medical treatment.

Israeli continues to refuse the release of the corpses of ten Palestinians who died in its prisons, including Anis Doula from Qalqilia, who died in the year 1980, Aziz Oweisat, who died in 2018, Fares Baroud, Nassar Taqatqa, and Bassam Sayeh, who all died in 2019, Sa’ad Al-Gharabily and Kamal Abu Wa’ar who died in 2020, Sami Al-Armour who died in prison in 2021, Daoud Zobeidi and Maher Mohamamd Turkmal who died this year 2022.

Besides the 233 who died in Israeli prisons, hundreds of Palestinians died after their release from various diseases they suffered while in prison and were not given the proper treatment.

The number of Palestinian detainees in 23 Israeli prisons, detention camps, and interrogation facilities is at least 4700, including 150 children, including 835 held under arbitrary Administrative Detention orders without charges or trial.

Among the Palestinians who are held under Administrative Detention orders are four children and two women.

Nasser was from the Al-Am’ari refugee camp near the central West Bank city of Ramallah. Source: IMEMC, Ad-Dameer

Tamer Azmin Nashrati

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December 19, 2022: Tamer Azmin Aref Nashrati, 23, succumbed to the serious wound he had suffered a week prior, when several Israeli military vehicles invaded Jenin, in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said the young man, Tamer Azmin Aref Nashrati, 23, from the Jenin refugee camp in Jenin city in the northern West Bank, died from his wounds at the Istishari hospital in Ramallah.

Various Palestinian factions vowed to continue the path of resistance until liberation and independence.

Hundreds of Palestinians participated in his funeral procession and ceremony in Jenin and marched carrying his body, calling for ongoing resistance, steadfastness, and unity.

The Jenin Brigade of the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, said Samer was one of its members.

Media sources said Tamer was seriously injured when an explosive charge he was preparing detonated while he was handling it as several armored Israeli military vehicles invaded Jenin and Jenin refugee camp.

Tamer was from Jenin, in the northern West Bank. Source: IMEMC

Mohannad Yousef Mteir

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December 18, 2022: Mohannad Yousef Mteir, 37, was killed by an Israeli colonial settler who rammed into him while he and his older brother,  Mohammad, were on the side of the road fixing a flat tire. The attack took place near the Za’tara Israeli military roadblock south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus and fled the scene.

The Palestinian News & Info Agency ((WAFA) said the two siblings, Mohammad Yousef Mteir, 37, and his brother Mohannad, 19, were with their families heading back to Qalandia after shopping in Nablus to prepare for their niece’s wedding, and their sister’s engagement, both planned to be held two weeks from now.

WAFA quoted their brother, Ahmad, stating that he headed along with his four brothers to Nablus, and on their way back home, their car had a flat tire and had to park on the side of the road to fix it before the speeding colonizer rammed them with his car and sped away.


Video By Maan News

He added that the area where they parked was open, away from traffic, and visible to incoming vehicles, but the colonizer, contrary to Israeli army allegations, deliberately went out of his way to ram them with his speeding car before fleeing the scene.

Ahmad stated that he and his two other brothers narrowly escaped the incident unharmed, but Mohammad and Mohannad were directly struck by the colonizer’s car.

“I saw what happened; it wasn’t a traffic accident, Ahmad added, “the colonizer saw us, went out of his way to ram us with his car, and sped away…” he said.

Their cousin, Emad Mteir, said Mohammad was instantly killed after the colonizer rammed him with his car, and his body was moved to a hospital in Nablus, while Mohannad succumbed to his serious wounds at an Israeli medical center. Three other family members were injured.

The corpses of the two slain siblings were moved to Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah before a Palestinian ambulance took them to their homes in Qalandia refugee camp, north of Jerusalem, and later, hundreds of Palestinians participated in their funeral ceremonies and burial procession.

Mohammad was from Qalandia refugee camp, north of Jerusalem in the West Bank. Source: IMEMC

Mohammad Yousef Mteir

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MohammadDecember 18, 2022: Mohammad Yousef Mteir, 37, was killed by an Israeli colonial settler who rammed into him while he and his younger brother,  Mohannad, were on the side of the road fixing a flat tire. The attack took place near the Za’tara Israeli military roadblock south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus and fled the scene.

The Palestinian News & Info Agency ((WAFA) said the two siblings, Mohammad Yousef Mteir, 37, and his brother Mohannad, 19, were with their families heading back to Qalandia after shopping in Nablus to prepare for their niece’s wedding, and their sister’s engagement, both planned to be held two weeks from now.

WAFA quoted their brother, Ahmad, stating that he headed along with his four brothers to Nablus, and on their way back home, their car had a flat tire and had to park on the side of the road to fix it before the speeding colonizer rammed them with his car and sped away.


Video By Maan News

He added that the area where they parked was open, away from traffic, and visible to incoming vehicles, but the colonizer, contrary to Israeli army allegations, deliberately went out of his way to ram them with his speeding car before fleeing the scene.

Ahmad stated that he and his two other brothers narrowly escaped the incident unharmed, but Mohammad and Mohannad were directly struck by the colonizer’s car.

“I saw what happened; it wasn’t a traffic accident, Ahmad added, “the colonizer saw us, went out of his way to ram us with his car, and sped away…” he said.

Their cousin, Emad Mteir, said Mohammad was instantly killed after the colonizer rammed him with his car, and his body was moved to a hospital in Nablus, while Mohannad succumbed to his serious wounds at an Israeli medical center. Three other family members were injured.

The corpses of the two slain siblings were moved to Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah before a Palestinian ambulance took them to their homes in Qalandia refugee camp, north of Jerusalem, and later, hundreds of Palestinians participated in their funeral ceremonies and burial procession.

Mohammad was from Qalandia refugee camp, north of Jerusalem in the West Bank. Source: IMEMC

Mahmoud Mohammed Al-Kurd

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December 16, 2022: Mahmoud Mohammed Al-Kurd, 45, died of cancer after having been denied entry to Jerusalem for lifesaving medical treatment.

The Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights reported that the discriminatory movement restrictions and the arbitrary permit regime imposed by Israeli authorities on Palestinian patients from Gaza, which obstruct their access to hospitals outside the Strip, claimed the life of Mahmoud.

The most recent case of permit delay led to the death of Mahmoud Mohammed Al-Kurd, a 45-year-old cancer patient from Deir al-Balah City, on 16 December 2022, after being repeatedly denied access to the Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem.

Al-Kurd suffered from lung cancer. Despite obtaining a medical referral from the Palestinian Ministry of Health and securing appointments at the Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem, Israeli authorities denied him the requisite exit permit to travel for four different appointments. The last appointment to which access was denied for Al-Kurd was scheduled for 29 November 2022.

As Al-Kurd’s legal representative, Al Mezan communicated with the Israeli Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA) at Erez Crossing to grant him a permit, but to no avail. We then filed a preliminary petition to the Israeli Prosecutor’s Office in Beersheba to facilitate the patient’s access to the hospital, but the Prosecutor’s Office responded that they would allow him to pass through Jordan, although his appointment was in Jerusalem. At that point, Al Mezan, together with Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (PHRI), took the case to the Israeli Supreme Court, which approved the patient’s access to the hospital through the Erez crossing.

On 15 December 2022, the patient received a new hospital appointment at Augusta Victoria Hospital and accessed the hospital successfully. However, he arrived in Jerusalem in extremely poor health conditions and was pronounced dead the next day, at 10:30 pm on Friday, 16 December 2022.

Al Mezan’s documentation shows that since the beginning of 2022, nine patients—including three children—have died following Israel’s delay or denial of requests for exit permits.

We reiterate that Israel’s draconian, stifling closure of Gaza serves to deny inhabitants their fundamental right to health, and other inalienable rights, as part of an entrenched system of oppression, domination, and discrimination against the Palestinian people.

Al Mezan’s decades of experience in representing patients indicates that Israel’s denials or permit delays are not based on valid reasons but rather are part of the collective punishment and apartheid regime to which it subjects more than two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Al Mezan calls on the international community—in particular, the High Contracting Parties to the 1949 Geneva Conventions—to uphold their moral and legal obligations vis-à-vis the protected Palestinian people and to ensure Israel complies with its obligations under international law, ends the closure and blockade on the Gaza Strip, and stops its ongoing restrictions of Palestinian patients’ access to medical care outside the Gaza Strip.

Lastly, Al Mezan reiterates that the continued impunity provided to the Israeli forces encourages the repetition of crimes and violations against the Palestinian people.

Mahmoud was from Deir al-Balah City in Gaza. Source: Al-Mezan

Jenna Majdi Zakarna

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December 11, 2022: Jenna Majdi Essam Zakarna, 15, was shot in the head and killed by Israeli snipers while she was standing on the roof of her home during an Israeli military invasion of Jenin.

The attack occurred before midnight when undercover Israeli soldiers, and numerous armored military vehicles, invaded Jenin.

Sources at the Khalil Suleiman Hospital in Jenin said the soldiers killed Jenna Majdi Essam Zakarna, 16, after shooting her with live fire in the head and face, and two in her chest.

Jenna’s family said the soldiers fatally shot her while standing on the rooftop of their home in the Eastern Neighborhood.

They said Jenna went to the rooftop of their home to bring her cat, and that is when the soldiers shot her.

“She went to the rooftop to bring cat down, but when she didn’t come back, her brother went to the roof and saw her bleeding on the ground and her car sitting next to her, she bled for at least 30 minutes before they found her” her uncle, Yasser Zakarna, told Palestine TV, “She was just fifteen, she was just a child who loved life… the soldiers shot her four times; two in the head and face, and two in her chest…they killed her childhood, she was a child, she wasn’t throwing stones or doing anything…. the soldiers fired at her to kill her… the occupation just keeps committing its crimes, just like what he saw a few days ago in Jenin…”

The Palestinian Center For Human Rights (PCHR) said: Half an hour after Israeli Occupation Forces’ withdrawal, a 15-year-old child namely Jana ‘Issam ‘Assaf Zakarna was found a dead body while blood surrounding her on her family house roof.

Furthermore, the soldiers caused damage to several parked cars and a shop during protests that took place in the Al-Bayader area in Jenin.

The Israeli army claimed it arrested a Palestinian reportedly “planning attacks against the soldiers and Israeli targets.”

Later, it turned out that she was shot with a live bullet in her head, and the neighborhood’s residents assume that the bullet was fired by one of the Israeli snipers stationed on the top of residential buildings, including an under-construction building comprised of seven floors opposite to Zakarna family house.

Jana was taken to Dr. Khalil Suliman Hospital in Jenin, where doctors confirmed her death after succumbing to a bullet injury in the head.”

According to PCHR’s fieldworker, Jana’s body was referred to the Forensic Medicine Institute at an-Najah National University in Nablus.

After the autopsy, it turned out according to what the doctors told PCHR’s fieldworker, that the shooting was from an M16 weapon from a distance of no less than 300 meters.

Also, it was found out that Jana was hit with 5 live bullets that penetrated her body; 4 of them hit her shoulder and neck while the fifth penetrated her head from the right side and exited the left side, and some shrapnel remained in her head. This proves that the shots were of the explosive type that is usually used by IOF.

The soldiers also stormed and ransacked many homes before abducting Hasan Ahmad Mer’ey, 30, Tha’er Jihad Hanthawi, 40, and his brother Mohammad, 33.

Furthermore, the Palestinian Health Ministry said the soldiers also shot a young man with a bullet in the leg before he was rushed to Ibn Sina Specialized Hospital suffering mild-to-moderate wounds.

Jenna was from Jenin, in the northern West Bank. Source: IMEMC

Nabil Shallah

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December 09, 2022: Nabil Shallah, 59, died from serious wounds he suffered in August 2022 during the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip.

Media sources said Nabil Shallah, 59, from the Sheja’eyya neighborhood east of Gaza city, has died from his wounds at a hospital in Gaza.

The Palestinian man suffered life-threatening wounds when the Israeli army fired missiles at homes and buildings near Abu Samra Mosque in the Sheja’eyya neighborhood.

The Israeli offensive on Gaza started with the assassination of Taiseer Mohammad al-Ja’bari, 50, a senior leader of the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, when the Israeli air force fired missiles at Burj Falasteen (Palestine Tower) in the center of Gaza City, on August 5th, killing many civilians in the apartment building and wounding dozens.

The Palestine Tower has thirteen floors and many government offices and media centers. The bombing also caused damage to many surrounding buildings, stores, and commercial facilities.

The three-day offensive on Gaza led to the death of 49 Palestinians, including fifteen children and four women, and caused 360 injuries, including 151 children and 58 women; many of the injured suffered life-threatening wounds.

Nabil was from the Sheja’eyya neighborhood east of Gaza city. Source: IMEMC

Dia’ Mohammad Rimawi

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DiaDecember 09, 2022: Dia’ Mohammad Shafiq Rimawi, 16, was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers in Aboud village, northwest of Ramallah, in the central part of the occupied West Bank. The soldiers also seriously injured two other Palestinian youth, and wounded three.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said it was officially informed of the death of Dia’ Mohammad Shafiq Rimawi, 16, at an Israeli medical center.

The Health Ministry added that two teens sustained serious injuries and were taken to Israeli medical centers.

It stated that the soldiers shot two other teenage boys, causing moderate wounds, before Palestinian medics rushed them to a clinic in Beit Rima village, northwest of Ramallah; One was shot in the chest and the other in his leg.

Eyewitnesses said the soldiers left Dia’ bleeding on the ground without medical aid after refusing to allow Palestinian medics to approach him.

After his death, the corpse of the slain child was transferred to the Palestinian side and was moved to Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah. His funeral procession is scheduled to be held Friday in Beit Rima.

One of Dia’s relatives said he, the oldest sibling in his family, was an eleventh-grade student at a school in Beit Rima and is the nephew of Wiliam Rimawi, imprisoned by Israel and serving a 32-year sentence.

On Thursday dawn, Israeli soldiers killed three young men and injured several Palestinians after the army invaded Jenin city and Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank.

The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the slain Palestinians as Sidqi Siddeeq Zakarna, 29, from Jenin city, Tareq Fawzi Ad-Damaj, 29, from Jenin refugee camp, and Ata Yassin Shalabi, 46, from Qabatia town, south of Jenin.

According to the Health Ministry, the child’s death brings the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers and colonizers since the beginning of this year to 217, 165 of them in the West Bank and 52 in the Gaza Strip.

Dia’ was from Aboud, in the central West Bank. Source: IMEMC