December 10, 2021: Jamil Abu Ayyash, 31, was killed by Israeli soldiers during the weekly protest against the illegal Israeli colonies in Beita town, southeast of the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
The head of the Emergency and Ambulance Department at the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), Ahmad Jibril, told the Palestinian News & Information Agency (WAFA) that the army opened live fire at non-violent protesters on Sbeih Mountain, killing Jamil Abu Ayyash, and causing at least sixty-eight cases of inhalation injuries from tear gas.
He added that the slain young man was shot with a live round in the head with a live round, and was transferred by ambulance to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead due to his critical wounds shortly after arrival.
Palestinian youths have been protesting for months in rejection of Israel’s expansion of its illegal colonies, especially when Israeli colonizers occupied the top of the mountain and installed the illegal “Avitar” colonialist outpost.
Earlier in the day, soldiers accompanied bulldozers that razed a power network and roads leading to the protest site, in addition to uprooting olive trees on Palestinian-owned lands.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affair and Ex-Patriates issued a statement denouncing the killing of Abu Ayyash and called The Human Rights Council’s International Commission of Inquiry to Investigate Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, to investigate his death and all Israeli crimes and violations.
It said that the Israeli army’s use of live ammunition against unarmed protesters is a war crime, and a crime against humanity, and is yet another proof that Israel does not seek peace and is ongoing with its hostile policies against the Palestinian people and any treaty or resolution that would result in real and comprehensive peace based on international legitimacy resolutions.
It also called on the International Criminal Court to open an immediate inquiry into the escalating Israeli crimes and violations against the Palestinian people, their property, and their holy sites.
The Ministry urged the International Community to provide the urgently needed protection to the Palestinian people and to end its idleness by prosecuting those who commit these crimes against unarmed civilians and their property.
It is worth mentioning that the funeral ceremony of the slain young man was held in his town, with the participation of hundreds of Palestinians, including social figures.
Jamil is the ninth Palestinian to be killed in Beita since the protests against the annexation of Sbeih Mountain started after the colonizers occupied it in May of this year, 2021.
Jamil was from Beita town, southeast of Nablus, in the northern part of the occupied West Bank. Source: IMEMC