October 19, 2022: Odai Kamal Tamimi, 22, was killed by Israeli soldiers near Ma’ale Adumim illegal colony, east of the occupied capital Jerusalem in the West Bank, after he opened fire at security guards, mildly wounded one.
The Israeli army said the Palestinian shot a security guard, 24, mildly wounding him in his hand, and added that another security guard at the scene fired at the Palestinian and killed him.
Video footage shows the Palestinian continuing to exchange fire with the officers even after he was shot multiple times.
After the shooting, the army installed many roadblocks in the area and initiated massive searches, fearing that another Palestinian might be involved in the shooting, although the assumption was not verified.
Hundreds of Palestinians marched in the Shu’fat refugee camp northeast of Jerusalem and headed to Odai’s home, condemning his death and chanting against the ongoing illegal Israeli occupation and escalating violations, and calling for continued resistance until liberation and independence.
The Israeli army has been looking for the Palestinian since October 9, after holding him responsible for the shooting of an Israeli soldier, Noa Lazar, 18, who succumbed to her wounds, and the serious injury of a security guard at a military roadblock near Shu’fat.
The army has since been constantly invading his family’s home and the homes of his relatives and ransacking them, causing serious damage, in addition to interrogating and detaining many of them.
Immediately after the shooting, the army imposed a tight siege on the Shu’fat refugee camp, Anata town, and surrounding areas, and initiated extensive and violent searches of homes and buildings, abducted dozens of Palestinians.
Following Odai’s death, thousands of Palestinians held massive processions in Shu’fat refugee camp northeast of Jerusalem, Qalandia, north of Jerusalem, the northern entrance of Bethlehem city, Nabi Saleh village, northwest of the central West Bank city of Ramallah, Ni’lin village, northwest of the city, and the northern entrance of the nearby Al-Biereh city, in addition to many areas in Jenin and Nablus in the northern part of the occupied territory.
The soldiers fired live rounds, rubber-coated steel bullets, gas bombs, and concussion grenades at the Palestinians and surrounding buildings.
The soldiers also closed many roadblocks on main roads in the West Bank, including the Qalandia terminal, north of Jerusalem, and the Al-Jalama roadblock, northeast of Jenin, in the northern West Bank.
Palestinian national and Islamic factions declared a comprehensive general strike in the occupied West Bank Thursday to mourn the slain young man and called for raising black flags on homes and buildings and for massive processions across the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, to protest the seriously escalating Israeli violations.
It is worth mentioning that, a day before the soldier’s death, the army killed Ahmad Mohammad Hussein Daraghma, 24, and Mahmoud Moayyad Sous, 18, in Jenin, in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.
Their deaths also came just a day after the Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinian teens, Adel Ibrahim Adel Daoud, 14, and Mahdi Mohammad Ladadwa, 17, and injured dozens of Palestinians near Qalqilia and Ramallah in the northern and central parts of the occupied West Bank.
On October 11, an Israeli soldier, Ido Baruch, 20, succumbed to serious wounds he suffered in a shooting targeting a large group of Israeli colonizers, guarded by dozens of soldiers, marching near Nablus, in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.
Odai was from Shu’fat refugee camp, northeast of occupied East Jerusalem in the West Bank. Source: IMEMC