West Bank

Kim Levengrond Yehezkel

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October 7, 2018: Kim Levengrond Yehezkel, 28, an Israeli settler living in contravention of international law in the West Bank, was shot and killed by a Palestinian assailant in the Industrial Area of Barkan colony, in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.

Israeli sources confirmed that two Israelis were killed in the shooting. In addition to Kim,  Ziv Hagbi, 35, from Rishon LeZion was also killed.

The sources added that the Israeli Shabak and the army launched a massive manhunt to find the shooter, identified as Ashraf Waleed Suleiman Na’alwa, 23, from Shweika village, near Tulkarem, in the northern West Bank.

The army invaded Shweika and stormed Ashraf’s family home, before violently searching it, interrogating the family, and taking measurements of their property in preparation for demolishing it as an act of collective punishment.

In the pre-dawn hours the following morning, without having found Ashraf, dozens of Israeli soldiers attacked his family home and abducted his mother and two sisters.

“According to Palestinian sources, neither the brother, arrested Sunday, nor the sister have any information related to the attack, but the arrests serve to pressure the assailant to reveal himself,” the Israeli paper Haaretz reported.

Meanwhile hundreds of Palestinians were prevented from entering the Barkan Industrial Zone, the site of Sunday’s shooting attack, located near Ariel settlement, as they arrived for work on Monday.

The soldiers conducted extensive searches of many homes and lands in the area, and abducted a number of Palestinians for questioning in relation to the shooting.

Israeli sources reported that the search to locate and arrest Ashraf was carried out with the assistance and full cooperation of the Palestinian Security Forces.

It quoted an unnamed Palestinian security official telling its reporter that the Israeli army believed that the shooter will likely surrender to the Palestinian security forces rather than the military, to avoid being shot dead by the Israeli soldiers.

The Israeli army, police and security forces, and Israeli political leaders stated that the fatal shooting attack “carried nationalistic motives”. Despite the fact that the Palestinian was recently fired from the factory where he carried out the deadly shooting, they “ruled out [the idea that] the shooting was motivated by this fact.”

Initially, the Israeli army and security establishment said the shooting attack was criminally motivated, but later changed their statement to say that the motivation was political.

Israeli Ynet News said the suspect worked at the Industrial Area for seven months, and carried a permit which was set to expire the following month. The area where the factory is located is in Area C of the West Bank, under full Israeli control.

He reportedly entered the factory carrying a M-16 assault rifle, before shooting and seriously wounding a man and a man, who later succumbed to their wounds, in addition to moderately wounding another woman, 54 years old.

The army said the shooter apparently carried the attack out on his own, as he is not a member of any armed Palestinian group.

Kim was from Rosh HaAyin settlement, a Jewish-only settlement constructed on stolen Palestinian land in the West Bank. Source: IMEMC

Mohammad Zaghloul al-Khatib

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September 18, 2018:Mohammad Zaghloul al-Khatib, 24, was beaten to death by Israeli soldiers who invaded his home while he was sleeping at four a.m.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) has reported that Israeli soldiers killed, on Tuesday at dawn, a young Palestinian man after abducting him from his home, and repeatedly assaulting him.

The PPS said undercover Israeli soldiers abducted Mohammad Zaghloul al-Khatib, 24, from his home in Beit Rima town, northwest of Ramallah, in central West Bank.

It quoted his brother stating that nearly 30 Israeli soldiers invaded the family home to abduct Mohammad, before continuously and repeatedly assaulting him in his home until he fell unconscious.

He added that the soldiers then took him brother to an unknown destination, and the family was later contacted by an Israeli intelligence officer, asking them whether Mohammad had any “preexisting conditions,” and they assured the officer that their son was completely healthy.

His mother said that the soldiers beat him on the head, then smashed his head several times against the wall until he fell down, unconscious. They handcuffed his prone body, then left the scene, leaving him unconscious and handcuffed with no medical attention.

On Tuesday morning, the Palestinian District Coordination Office was contacted by its Israeli counterpart, informing them that Mohammad was dead, without setting a date for transferring his corpse back to his family.

The family said the soldiers resorted to the excessive use of force against Mohammad, continuously beating him up while abducting him, and accused the military of executing their son.

They stated that the soldiers started beating Mohammad up immediately after breaking into his room, and continued to assault him until he lost consciousness before the soldiers carried him and left the building.

Addameer Prisoner Support organization said that Mohammad’s brother told them that a large group of undercover soldiers entered the home at 4 am and assaulted his mother, before regular army units invaded the house and forced the parents and three children into one corner of the house. They then took Mohammad to another room, where they punched, kicked and clubbed him, and beat him with rifle butts until he fell unconscious.

Mohammad was previously shot by the Israeli military two years ago, in the leg.

Addameer stated that, “Killing this young man, who posed no threat to the soldiers, violates international law”. The group added, “This lethal, excessive use of force is an extrajudicial assassination”. The group called on the United Nations to form a committee to investigate this and other crimes by the Israeli military.

The PPS held Israel fully responsible for killing Mohammad, and added that this crime is added “to a long lost of similar crimes and executions, carried out by the soldiers against Palestinian detainees.”

It added that the army has killed 217 Palestinian political prisoners, since Israel occupied the rest of Palestine in 1967.

The PPS stated that the silence of the international human rights organizations is granting Israel a green light to continue its crimes against the Palestinian people, especially since Israel continues to violate the basic rights of the Palestinians with impunity.

The PPS also said that approximately %95 of the Palestinians who are abducted and imprisoned by the Israeli army have been subjected to various forms of torture, during  their arrest, and during interrogation.

Furthermore, the PPS stated that Mohammad is the third Palestinian detainee to be killed by the army this tear, as the soldiers killed Yassin Saradeeh, 33, who was shot and beaten repeatedly while lying on the ground, on February 22nd,  in addition to Aziz ‘Oweisat, 53, who died on May 20, at an Israeli hospital from serious complications after he was assaulted by several soldiers in the prison, when they claimed he attacked an officer with a sharp object.

Mohammad was from Beit Rima town, northwest of Ramallah, in central West Bank. Source: IMEMC

Yotam Ovadia

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July 27, 2018: Yotam Ovadia, 31, succumbed to stab wounds sustained when a Palestinian teenager climbed the fence into the settlement colony of ‘Adam’ and stabbed Yotam and two others.

Yotam was the father of two young children, age 2 and 7 months, and worked as a technician with “Brinks Security Company”.

The Palestinian assailant, identified as Mohammad Tareq dar Yousef, 17, allegedly managed to climb over the fence into the illegal Israeli settlement of “Adam”, which had been built on stolen Palestinian land which was taken from his village, Kobar, near Ramallah. He then stabbed three people before he was shot and killed.

Another unnamed Israeli settler, age 50, ended up in critical condition with stab wounds to the upper body, according to Israeli media sources.

Before going to the settlement to carry out the attack, the young Palestinian wrote on his Facebook page, “After all of the injustice the Palestinians continue to face: the killing, the diaspora, the theft of land by force, this injustice still prevails, and many Palestinians are silent – including those who have weapons, and are watching the massacres. Those are the traitors.”

He goes on to say, “You [Palestinians] who own a weapon, remember this is for your enemy, not for use against your own people. Remember the children of Gaza, suffering and dying.” The statement ends, “A salute to the people who defend their land and their honor. And to those who sold their land and betrayed their country, those cowards, you must be ashamed of yourselves. The people of Gaza and Jerusalem are resisting, and you are trying to silence them.”

Dozens of soldiers in armored vehicles surrounded and invaded Kobar, near Ramallah, in the hours following this incident. Protests broke out in the village, and some teens threw stones at the invading soldiers.

The troops invaded Mohammad’s home, surrounding it and demanding that the family leave.

Over the one hundred days that preceded this attack, Palestinians in Gaza engaged in largely non-violent protests on a weekly basis in Gaza as part of the ‘Great March of Return’, calling for a return of the Palestinian refugees to their homes in what is now Israel, and an end to the siege on Gaza that has strangled the economy of the tiny coastal strip since 2007.

Israeli forces killed nearly 150 Palestinian demonstrators during this time, and wounded more than 17,000, many with live ammunition. One Israeli was killed in this time period, in May, by a stone slab that fell on him from a building in a Palestinian town he was invading in the West Bank. The Palestinian resistance in Gaza mainly held its fire in solidarity with the non-violent demonstrators, but the Friday before this stabbing took place, a firefight broke out and an Israeli soldier and four Palestinian fighters were killed.

Yotam was from the settlement of Adam, located in the West Bank. Source: IMEMC

Mohammad Tareq dar Yousef

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July 26, 2018: Mohammad Tareq dar Yousef, 17, was shot and killed by an armed paramilitary Israeli settler after he allegedly stabbed three Israeli paramilitary settlers, killing one.

Mohammad allegedly managed to climb over the fence into the illegal Israeli settlement of Geva Binyamin, which had been built on stolen Palestinian land which was taken from his village, Kobar, near Ramallah. He then stabbed three people before he was shot and killed.

A 31-year old Israeli colonial settler was killed, identified as Yotam Ovadia. Another unnamed Israeli settler, age 50, was put in critical condition with stab wounds to the upper body, according to Israeli media sources.

Before going to the settlement to carry out the attack, the young Palestinian wrote on his Facebook page, “After all of the injustice the Palestinians continue to face: the killing, the diaspora, the theft of land by force, this injustice still prevails, and many Palestinians are silent – including those who have weapons, and are watching the massacres. Those are the traitors.”

He goes on to say, “You [Palestinians] who own a weapon, remember this is for your enemy, not for use against your own people. Remember the children of Gaza, suffering and dying.” The statement ends, “A salute to the people who defend their land and their honor. And to those who sold their land and betrayed their country, those cowards, you must be ashamed of yourselves. The people of Gaza and Jerusalem are resisting, and you are trying to silence them.”

Dozens of soldiers in armored vehicles surrounded and invaded Kobar, near Ramallah, in the hours following this incident. Protests broke out in the village, and some teens threw stones at the invading soldiers.

The troops invaded Mohammad’s home, surrounding it and demanding that the family leave. It is unknown at the time of this report if the soldiers are planning to carry out a punitive demolition of the alleged assailant’s home, but this is a known and common practice by the Israeli military.

Over the past hundred days, Palestinians have been engaging in largely non-violent protests on a weekly basis in Gaza as part of the ‘Great March of Return’, calling for a return of the Palestinian refugees to their homes in what is now Israel, and an end to the siege on Gaza that has strangled the economy of the tiny coastal strip since 2007.

Israeli forces have killed nearly 150 Palestinian demonstrators during this time, and wounded more than 17,000, many with live ammunition. One Israeli was killed in this time period, in May, by a stone slab that fell on him from a building in a Palestinian town he was invading in the West Bank. The Palestinian resistance in Gaza has held its fire in solidarity with the non-violent demonstrators, but this past Friday a firefight broke out and an Israeli soldier and four Palestinian fighters were killed.

Mohammad was from the village of Kobar, near Ramallah in the central part of the West Bank. Source: IMEMC

Arkan Tha’er Mizhir

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Akram MizherJuly 22, 2018: Arkan Tha’er Mezher, 15, died after being shot with a live round in the chest while protesting the invasion of his refugee camp, Deheishe Camp in Bethlehem, by Israeli soldiers in the pre-dawn hours.

After the child was shot, he was rushed Beit Jala (al-Hussein) Governmental Hospital, where he was declared dead.

His death came as dozens of Israeli soldiers invaded, on Monday at dawn, the Deheishe refugee camp, south of the West Bank city of Bethlehem, killing Arkan injuring two young men and causing dozens to suffer the effects of teargas inhalation.

Media sources in Bethlehem said the soldiers invaded the camp, storming and ransacking homes, causing damage.

They added that dozens of youngsters protested the invasions, and hurled stones at the soldiers, who fired many live rounds, rubber-coated steel bullets, gas bombs and concussion grenades.

In addition, the soldiers abducted two young men from the camp.

Arkan was from Deheishe camp, in Bethlehem, in the southern part of the West Bank. Source: IMEMC

 

Ya’coub Fayeq Nassar

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Yacoub NassarJuly 8, 2018: Ya’coub Fayeq Nassar, 18, died of wounds sustained 9 years ago, in 2009, when he was shot by Israeli forces and paralyzed.

Palestinian medical sources in Hebron, in the southern part of the occupied West Bank, said that Yacoub died, Sunday, from very serious complications resulting from wounds, he suffered in 2009, after Israeli soldiers shot him.

Yacoub was just a child, 9 years of age, when the soldiers shot him in his spine, in the al-Fawwar refugee camp, south of Hebron in the southern part of the West Bank, and suffered ongoing complications.

His injury caused paralysis, and he spent years being transferred to various Palestinian hospitals in West Bank, and was eventually moved to an Israeli hospital where he underwent many surgeries and medical procedures.

In February of last year, the doctors at Ichilov Hospital had to amputate his legs, but his condition continued to deteriorate, and he suffered a renal failure, before eventually succumbing to his wounds.

Yacoub was from Hebron, in the southern part of the West Bank. Source: IMEMC

Ezzeddin Abdul-Hafith Tamimi

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June 6, 2018: Ezzeddin Abdul-Hafith Tamimi, 21, was shot by Israeli soldiers in Nabi Saleh village with three live rounds from very close range in an extrajudicial assassination. The soldiers then prevented Palestinian medics from approaching Ezzeddin as he lay, critically injured, on the ground.

According to eyewitnesses, Palestinian medics tried to provide aid to the seriously wounded man, but the soldiers assaulted them, and threatened to shoot them. Ezzeddin then succumbed to his injuries.

When Ezzeddin’s mother was informed that he was killed, she rushed to see him, but the soldiers sprayed her face with pepper-spray and forced her away.

Ezzeddin worked as a car mechanic, but was listed as ‘wanted’ by the Israeli military eighteen months ago. The soldiers have made numerous attempts over the past eighteen months to intercept the young man, including invading his home and shooting him.

The Israeli army also abducted his brother to pressure him into turning himself in to the army.

A few weeks before assassinating Ezzeddin, the army called one of his brothers, and told him that “Ezzeddin will face the same fate of Ahmad Nasr Jarrar, (who was killed by the soldiers on February 06, 2018), if he does not surrender.”

Eyewitnesses said the soldiers assassinated the Palestinian, directly and repeatedly firing at him, in addition to attacking dozens of other Palestinians in the town.

The soldiers also shot another Palestinian with a live round and caused many others to suffer the effects of teargas inhalation, during protests that took place after the soldiers killed Ezzeddin.

After the soldiers killed Ezzeddin, they invaded many homes, including his home, and occupied their rooftops.

|Funeral Ceremony Of Slain Palestinian Held In Nabi Saleh, One Injured|

Ezzeddin was from Nabi Saleh, in the central part of the West Bank. Source: IMEMC

Rami Wahid Hasan Sabarna

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June 2, 2018: Rami Wahid Hasan Sabarna, 36, was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers in Hebron, in the southern part of the occupied West Bank, while he and other workers were conducting work for the Hebron City Council to rehabilitate and expand a road near the Ibrahimi Mosque.

The Health Ministry in Hebron said the soldiers fatally shot Rami in Jaber neighborhood in the Old City, near the military roadblock leading to the Ibrahimi Mosque.

The Ministry added that the soldiers also stopped a Palestinian ambulance at the scene, and prevented the medics from approaching the Palestinian, before he bled to death.

An Israeli ambulance later arrived, and its medics placed Rami’s body in a black bag and took it away.

The army claimed that the Palestinian worker “attempted to ram the soldiers with his vehicle, before they shot him,” an allegation which was denied by eyewitnesses, who said the young man was just working, and did not attempt to attack the soldiers, or harm them in any way.

Aref Jaber, a local nonviolent activist against the Annexation Wall and Colonies, who lives near the area where the army killed the worker, said Sabarna was driving a small and loud bulldozer, and added that the worker passed by some soldiers who then started shouting at him an ordering him to stop.

“He did not pose any threat to them, he passed by them and could not hear their shouts and orders,” Aref said, “Then, they just opened fire at him and his bulldozer, seriously wounded him, before removing him from his vehicle and leaving him to bleed on the ground. When Red Crescent medics arrived, the soldiers prevented them from providing Sabarna with the urgently needed treatment, and he bled to death, before the soldiers placed his corpse in a black plastic bag and took him away.”

The soldiers also removed media outlets from the area, and prevented the journalists from performing their duties.

Rami’s death follows the killing of a young Palestinian woman the day before, a volunteer medic identified as Razan Ashraf Najjar, 22. On the same day, Israeli forces injured 100 Palestinians, including 40 with live fire, in the Gaza Strip.

Rami was from Hebron, in the southern part of the West Bank. Source: IMEMC

Ronen Lubarsky

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May 26, 2018: Ronen Lubarsky, 20, was an Israeli soldier who was severely injured Thursday morning while invading a Palestinian refugee camp, when Palestinians dropped a stone slab on his head from the roof of a third-story building. On Saturday, Ronen died of his wounds.

The incident took place at the al-Am’ari refugee camp near Ramallah, in the central part of the West Bank.

After his death, Israeli authorities quickly mobilized to put together a patriotic funeral that same evening. Hundreds of people attended, including Ronen’s brother, who gave a eulogy in which he said, “Wild animals were waiting for you on the rooftops. I pray to God that our leaders, who I love, will do something about it.” By ‘wild animals’, he was referring to Palestinians.

The funeral was a military service, which took place on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on Saturday night.

Ronen was a member of the ‘Duvdevan unit’ of the Israeli army, known for its extrajudicial assassinations of Palestinian suspects.

The head of the unit praised Ronen during the service, saying that he had “participated in a great number of operations to capture terrorists”

After the stone slab fell on Ronen Thursday morning, he was rushed to the hospital, where he remained in critical condition until his death on Saturday.

The refugee camp that he was invading, along with other members of his unit, was put under a 24-hour curfew in the days following his injury, with no one allowed to leave or enter. But Israeli soldiers have until now been unable to identify or apprehend the suspects who, they claim, pushed the stone slab off the roof onto Ronen.

Ronen was from Rehovot. Source: IMEMC

Akram Odai Abu Khalil

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May 23, 2018: Akram Odai Abu Khalil, 15, died of wounds sustained The Palestinian Health Ministry has reported, on Wednesday evening, that a child died from serious wounds he suffered, eight days earlier, after Israeli soldiers shot him at the northern entrance of al-Biereh city, in central West Bank.

The Ministry said the child was shot with a live round in his abdomen, and was rushed to Palestine Medical Complex, in Ramallah, before he was moved to the Najah Hospital, in the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

The child remained in a coma, in a very serious condition, until he succumbed to his wounds.

The Ministry stated that his death brings the number of Palestinians, killed by Israeli army fire since the beginning of the Great Return March on Palestinian Land Day, on March 30, 2018, to 118 including 14 children.

Akram was critically injured while participating in a protest against the U.S. moving its Embassy to Jerusalem on Monday May 14th, 2018. The protest also focused on commemorating  the 70th anniversary of the Nakba (Catastrophe), when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced from their homes for the creation of the state of Israel – creating the largest refugee population on earth, many of whom remain in exile generations later.

While Akram and thousands of others protested in the West Bank, thousands more Palestinians were simultaneously protesting in the Gaza Strip, where they were mowed down with live ammunition from Israeli forces. The Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed that Israeli soldiers killed 60 Palestinians on Monday, May 14th, 2018, including an eight month old baby, 6 children and four officers of the Ministry of Interior and National Security, in the Gaza Strip, and injured more than 2700.

Akram was from Ein Sinya village, north of Ramallah. Source: IMEMC