April 4, 2018: Shadi Hamdan al-Kashef, 34, from Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, died from serious wounds he suffered last Friday March 30th, after the soldiers shot him with a live round in the head during Land Day protests at the Gaza-Israel border.
On March 30th, Shadi was taken to the Intensive Care Unit of Abu Yousef Najjar hospital, in Rafah, where doctors worked to save his life. Despite their best efforts, five days after his injury he succumbed to his serious wounds.
Dr. Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesperson of the Health Ministry in Gaza, said Shadi was a young man with special needs.
His death brings the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli army fire since last Friday, to 19 Palestinians, while more than a thousand, including at least 200 children, have been injured, many seriously.
Dr. Ashraf Al-Qedra, the spokesperson of the Health Ministry in Gaza, confirmed that 18 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli attacks on the protests. Hospitals and medical centers across the Gaza Strip issued urgent appeals to the Palestinians to donate blood for the wounded.
The fatal Israeli attacks, and the injuries, came shortly after the Israeli military, and the political leadership in Tel Aviv, decided on “shoot to kill orders” against Palestinians who tried to breach, or even approach the border fence.
The Israeli Cabinet also decided to significantly increase military deployments, in addition to using live fire and shoot to kill orders “if the Palestinians breach (or approach) the security fence” in the besieged coastal territory.
Israeli authorities confirmed two days after the Land Day protest that they were holding the bodies of two Palestinians who were killed on Friday during the protests at the borders in Gaza. One of these bodies was that of Mosab Salloul.
According to Israeli news sources, the Israeli government said they have no intention of releasing the bodies or returning them to their families for burial.
The Islamic faith requires that a body be buried as soon after death as possible, so most funerals are held the day after a person dies.
However, Israeli authorities continue to hold the bodies of 26 Palestinians, including these two killed on March 30th – some of the bodies held by Israel were killed over one year ago.
The Israeli military spokesperson claimed that the two men whose bodies were taken after being killed by the military Friday were members of the armed wing of Hamas.
But regardless of their political affiliation, the men were participating in a non-violent direct action at the border that involved all political parties and factions in Palestine.
Protests took place throughout the day on March 30th across the besieged Gaza Strip, and the Israeli army also fired shells at a site east of the al-Boreij refugee camp, in central Gaza, and another site, southeast of Gaza city.
In Ramallah, in central West Bank, the soldiers injured dozens of nonviolent Palestinian protesters, at the northern entrance of al-Biereh city.
The soldiers also attacked dozens of nonviolent protesters on Budrus, west of Ramallah, wounding many Palestinians.
Also in Ramallah, the soldiers shot three Palestinians with live fire, and caused dozens to suffer the effects of teargas inhalation, after the army engaged in an excessive use of force against nonviolent protesters in Nabi Saleh village, north of the city.
Two Palestinians were also shot with live fire, after the army attacked protesters on their lands, near the illegal Halamish Israeli colony, which was built of lands owned by villagers of Deir Nitham, west of Ramallah.
In Nabi Saleh village, northwest of Ramallah, the soldiers attacked dozens of protesters, and fired dozens of gas bombs at them.
In Bil’in village, west of Ramallah, dozens of Palestinians, accompanied by Israel and international peace activists, held the weekly procession against the Annexation Wall and Colonies, and protesting the ongoing occupation, and the illegal American recognition of occupied Jerusalem as the unified capital of Israel.
In addition, soldiers attacked nonviolent protesters in Qusra village, southeast of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, while they marched carrying olive branches to plant them in their lands.
The soldiers also attacked nonviolent protesters in Hebron and abducted at least two Palestinians.
In addition, the soldiers shot a Palestinian child with live fire in his leg, after the army invaded the al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya village, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
March 30th 2018 marks the 42nd Anniversary of the Palestinian Land Day, when Israel illegally annexed 21000 Dunams of Palestinian lands, and issued the “Absentee Property Law” which allowed it to confiscate the lands of displaced Palestinians.
The army invaded many villages and towns and killed six Palestinians on that day (March 30, 1976) in various parts of occupied historic Palestine, and the Palestinians started marking it since then, expressing their determination and steadfastness in their struggle for liberation.
Shadi was from Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. Source: IMEMC