July 21, 2023: Fawzi Hani Makhalfeh, 18, was shot and killed by Israeli occupation forces in a drive-by shooting targeting a vehicle he was driving.
The other occupant of the vehicle was also shot with multiple live rounds and was then abducted by the Israeli military.
Local sources reported that the assassination occurred in the northern West Bank town of Sebastia, northwest of Nablus.
According to the director of the ambulance and emergency services at the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) in Nablus, Ahmed Jibril, soldiers prevented its medical crews from approaching the vehicle, until the teen was deceased.
Soldiers opened heavy live fire at a vehicle with two occupants, killing one and injuring the other. Citizens were able to inspect the damage to the car which revealed dozens of bullet holes across the entire vehicle.
The slain teen was identified as Fawzi Hani Makhalfeh, 18, and the other occupant of the vehicle was identified as Mohammad Omar Mokheimar, who was wounded by live rounds and abducted by the army.
The PRCS medics transported the body of the slain teen to Rafidia hospital in Nablus, once the army allowed them on to the scene.
On August 28. 2023, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (B’Tselem) said:
On Friday, 21 July 2023, at around 11:00 P.M., about 12 Israeli soldiers arrived in the Palestinian town of Sebastiya, Nablus District, in two military jeeps.
They parked the jeeps by the town’s western entrance, came out and started walking toward the center of the town. Fawzi Makhalfeh (18) and his friend Muhammad Mukheimar (19) were driving down a road that leads to the street where the soldiers were walking at the same time.
The two were driving from the center of town to Makhalfeh’s workplace at his father’s factory in the village of Deir Sharaf. Makhalfeh, who was driving, turned onto the street where the soldiers were walking. One of the soldiers shouted “stop” to them, and immediately after, the soldiers fired live fire rounds at the car.
The car was hit, collided with the fence of one of houses on the street and stopped. Makhalfeh sustained a head injury, and Mukheimar was injured by a bullet in his arm and shrapnel in his head, shoulders and hips. The soldiers ordered Mukheimar to exit the vehicle and lie on his stomach and then searched him. Makhalfeh, who was hit in the head and suffered a skull fracture, remained in the car. Gunshot wounds and shrapnel were found on his arms, stomach, knees, shoulder, neck and thigh.”
At that point, more soldiers and an officer arrived at the scene in two military jeeps. The officer interrogated Mukheimar, and, after he explained he and Makhalfeh were on their way to the factory, Mukheimar heard one of the soldiers say “oops.” A Palestinian medical team that arrived on the scene pronounced Makhalfeh dead and took his body away in an ambulance. Full Report
Earlier Friday, the army shot and killed another Palestinian teen and seriously injured another, in the village of Um Safa, northwest of Ramallah in the central part of the occupied West Bank.
The child was identified as Mohammad Fouad Atta Al-Bayed, 17, from al-Jalazoun refugee camp northwest of Ramallah, was shot in the head with a live round when local youths protested the military incursion into their village.
The army alleged that the vehicle was involved in a “car-ramming attempt”, which they claim was the justification for the killing of the teen and wounding of his friend, noting that no soldiers were injured.
According to the army, the vehicle reportedly sped towards Israeli soldiers who were involved in “proactive activity” in the village, adding that “the forces returned fire at the two suspects in the car.”
The army said that Makhalfeh, who was the driver of the vehicle, was “neutralized” and that the passenger was injured and detained by occupation forces.
Fawzi was from Sebastia, northwest of Nablus in the northern West Bank. Source: IMEMC