Saher ‘Awadallah ‘Othman

September 27th, 2019: Saher ‘Awadallah Jaber ‘Othman, 20, was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers in Gaza while participating in the 76th Great March of Return. He was declared dead in al-Shifa hospital approximately three hours after he was shot with a bullet in the chest.

In addition, Israeli troops wounded another 86 civilians through excessive force against the peaceful protests along the Gaza Strip’s border. This includes: 22 children, 4 female paramedics, 5 male paramedics and 2 persons with disabilities.

Of the injured, 40 were shot with live bullets while Israeli forces escalated their attacks against medical personnel, who are supposed to be respected under international humanitarian law, wounding 9 paramedics, including a female paramedic deemed to be in very critical condition.

The Supreme National Authority of Great March of Return and Breaking the Siege called for the protests under the theme “al-Aqsa Intifada and Palestinian Prisoners”, coinciding with the 19th anniversary of al-Aqsa Intifada.

The protests lasted from 15:00 to 19:00 and involved activities such as speeches by political leaders and theatrical performances. Hundreds of civilians protested at varied distances from the border fence across the Gaza Strip. Protesters who were near the border fence reportedly threw stones and firecrackers at the Israeli forces, who attacked the protesters with excessive force.  As a result, dozens of civilians were directly shot while other suffered due to tear gas inhalation.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights has documented 212 killings by Israel since the outbreak of the protests on 30 March 2018, including 46 children, 2 women, 9 persons with disabilities, 4 paramedics and 2 journalists. Additionally, 14,056 were wounded, including 3,020 children, 429 women, 244 paramedics and 215 journalists, noting that many of those injured had sustained multiple injuries on separate occasions.

Saher was from Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. Source: IMEMC