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Asil Faour Sawaed

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February 13, 2023: Staff Sgt. Asil Faour Sawaed, 22, was shot by so-called ‘friendly fire’ by a fellow Israeli security officer after an alleged stabbing attack at a military roadblock on the main entrance of Shu’fat refugee camp, north of occupied Jerusalem in the West Bank.

The Palestinian who allegedly attempted the stabbing attack is a 13-year-old child who was detained.

The sources identified the officer as Staff Sgt. Asil Faour Sawaed, 22, and said that he was conducting what was described as a “routine inspection” when the incident occurred. They added that the officer was shot by friendly fire before being rushed to Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, where he succumbed to his wounds.

The officer is an Arab citizen of Israel from the village of Al-Husseiniyya, northeast of Safed in the Northern District.

According to Israeli Ynet News, Sawaed was shot when a “civilian security guard” opened fire to “neutralize the attacker” but accidentally shot the officer.

Ynet News said the officer and the civilian guard got on a bus to conduct a routine inspection when the Palestinian lunged at the officer with a knife and stabbed him, and added, “the security guard opened fire to neutralize the attacker and the officer was apparently hit by a misfire.”

The Palestinian child was identified as Mohammad Bassel Zilbani, 13; shortly after the reported incident, dozens of soldiers invaded his family’s home and ransacked the property before abducting his parents and brother.

The invasion led to protests before the soldiers fired many live rounds, rubber-coated steel bullets, and gas bombs. Palestinian resistance fighters also exchanged fire with the soldiers during the refugee camp’s invasion.

The Israeli army also imposed a tight siege on the refugee camp, preventing the Palestinians from entering or leaving it.

Asil was from Israel. Source: IMEMC

Mahmoud Mohammed Al-Kurd

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December 16, 2022: Mahmoud Mohammed Al-Kurd, 45, died of cancer after having been denied entry to Jerusalem for lifesaving medical treatment.

The Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights reported that the discriminatory movement restrictions and the arbitrary permit regime imposed by Israeli authorities on Palestinian patients from Gaza, which obstruct their access to hospitals outside the Strip, claimed the life of Mahmoud.

The most recent case of permit delay led to the death of Mahmoud Mohammed Al-Kurd, a 45-year-old cancer patient from Deir al-Balah City, on 16 December 2022, after being repeatedly denied access to the Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem.

Al-Kurd suffered from lung cancer. Despite obtaining a medical referral from the Palestinian Ministry of Health and securing appointments at the Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem, Israeli authorities denied him the requisite exit permit to travel for four different appointments. The last appointment to which access was denied for Al-Kurd was scheduled for 29 November 2022.

As Al-Kurd’s legal representative, Al Mezan communicated with the Israeli Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA) at Erez Crossing to grant him a permit, but to no avail. We then filed a preliminary petition to the Israeli Prosecutor’s Office in Beersheba to facilitate the patient’s access to the hospital, but the Prosecutor’s Office responded that they would allow him to pass through Jordan, although his appointment was in Jerusalem. At that point, Al Mezan, together with Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (PHRI), took the case to the Israeli Supreme Court, which approved the patient’s access to the hospital through the Erez crossing.

On 15 December 2022, the patient received a new hospital appointment at Augusta Victoria Hospital and accessed the hospital successfully. However, he arrived in Jerusalem in extremely poor health conditions and was pronounced dead the next day, at 10:30 pm on Friday, 16 December 2022.

Al Mezan’s documentation shows that since the beginning of 2022, nine patients—including three children—have died following Israel’s delay or denial of requests for exit permits.

We reiterate that Israel’s draconian, stifling closure of Gaza serves to deny inhabitants their fundamental right to health, and other inalienable rights, as part of an entrenched system of oppression, domination, and discrimination against the Palestinian people.

Al Mezan’s decades of experience in representing patients indicates that Israel’s denials or permit delays are not based on valid reasons but rather are part of the collective punishment and apartheid regime to which it subjects more than two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Al Mezan calls on the international community—in particular, the High Contracting Parties to the 1949 Geneva Conventions—to uphold their moral and legal obligations vis-à-vis the protected Palestinian people and to ensure Israel complies with its obligations under international law, ends the closure and blockade on the Gaza Strip, and stops its ongoing restrictions of Palestinian patients’ access to medical care outside the Gaza Strip.

Lastly, Al Mezan reiterates that the continued impunity provided to the Israeli forces encourages the repetition of crimes and violations against the Palestinian people.

Mahmoud was from Deir al-Balah City in Gaza. Source: Al-Mezan

Ala’ Khaled Mohammad Zahran

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Ala ZahranJune 22, 2021: Ala’ Khaled Mohammad Zahran, 37, was killed by Israeli paramilitary settlers in Nablus, in the northern West Bank.

After a Palestinian security officer was killed, on Tuesday at dawn, security sources stated the man was killed by Israeli colonialist settlers, however, the Palestinian Authority is investigating whether his death could be attributed to a crime rather than the conflict.

The Palestinian Internal Security and other security devices are trying to ascertain whether the man was killed by the colonists, especially after reports of Israeli colonist settlers opening fire at him or his car, before he was assaulted, or if his murder is criminally motivated.

The Internal Security is not ruling out that his death was carried out by colonialist settlers, but stated it is also pursuing several other leads.

Initially, Palestinian security sources said the man, Ala’ Khaled Mohammad Zahran, 37, was ambushed and killed by colonialist settlers, but are now trying to ascertain other related factors that could alter this conclusion.

The investigations are still ongoing.

It is worth mentioning that Zahran was ambushed and lynched near Deir Sharaf, west of Nablus in northern West Bank. The slain officer is from Nablus, also in northern West Bank.

Ala’ was a member of the musical corps of the Palestinian National Security. Source: IMEMC