October 31, 2017: Mohammad Abdullah Mousa, 25, was killed by Israeli soldiers who fired live rounds at his car, near a military roadblock, close to Halamish Israeli settlement, northwest of Ramallah, in the West Bank.
Mohammad and his sister, Latifah Mousa, 33, were both injured by army fire, but he later died from his serious wounds in Beilinson Israeli Hospital in Petah Tikva.
Mohammad worked odd jobs, while his sister is a married mother of four daughters and a son.
Although the army initially claimed the soldiers opened fire at the car after the driver attempted a “vehicular attack” against them, the Israeli District Coordination office later said the soldiers apparently “accidentally fired at the car.”
The army stated that the soldiers opened fire at the vehicle after it “raised suspicion when it approached the roadblock,” and added that it was investigating the incident.
Mohammad’s sister was transferred to the Istishari Hospital, in Ramallah, and is receiving treatment for gunshot wounds in her shoulder.
Mousa Ballout, one of their cousins said Mohammad didn’t see the military roadblock, and the stop sign leading to it, adding that the soldiers instantly opened fire at the car.
Mousa stated that the Palestinian District Coordination Office was talking to the military to arrange the transfer Mohammad’s corpse back to his family.
Mousa added that the Mohammad was driving to Ramallah to prepare the needed paperwork for his driver’s license, while his sister accompanied him to check out a school for her daughter.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said the soldiers obstructed the work of its ambulance crew, before they later managed to transfer the wounded woman to the hospital in Ramallah.
Talking to Israeli online daily Haaretz, Mohammad’s cousin, Kamal Mousa, said the family strongly rejects the military’s allegations, and described them as lies and fabrication, to justify the shooting.
He added that a person who intends to carry out an attack does not bring a family member, such as a sister or a mother, because he knows that he, and those who accompany him, will be seriously hurt, and even killed. Mohammad was from Deir Ballout town, near Salfit, in northwestern West Bank. Source: IMEMC