Negev

March 15, 2022: Sanad Salem al-Harbad, 27, was shot and killed by undercover Israeli police in the Bedouin city of Rahat, in the Negev.

The slain young father of three children, identified as Sanad Salem al-Harbad, 27, was shot by undercover Israeli police during search and arrest operations.

The police alleged that shots were fired at them but failed to provide proof that the young man was involved in the alleged shooting. No officers were injured.

Palestine TV published a statement by the ‘Supreme Steering Committee’ holding the occupation responsible for the killing of the young father of three.

“The Negev is facing a campaign of systematic incitement and distortion from the trumpets of the authority and its media to demonize it and prevent solidarity with it and allow the authoritarian institutions to carry out their crimes, the most recent of which was the execution of the field martyr Sanad Salem Al-Harbad, who was on his way from his home to his place of work.” – The Supreme Steering Committee

The statement added that al-Harbad;

“Was shot by an undercover unit disguised as a Bedouin in an old Toyota jeep, leaving the injured person bleeding and preventing ambulances from entering for an hour is a crime in itself.” – The Supreme Steering Committee

The Times of Israel claimed that the slain young man was not a suspect in the shooting.

Contrary to Police allegation, further investigation revealed that the undercover officer shot Sanad with a round in the upper back and one in the lower extremities.

Israeli daily Haaretz said the Police Investigation Unit (Mahash) revealed that the officer who killed Sanad claimed that he felt his life was in danger and that he shot the Palestinian after he pointed his gun at him from a distance of about six meters.

However, the Mahash investigation revealed that Sanad had his back turned to the officer who shot him.

The officer shot Sanad in the lower extremities and then delivered the fatal shot to his upper back after falling to the ground.

The Arabs48 News Website said the undercover officers took Sanad, who was injured but still alive, to the police station where he succumbed to his wounds.

The officer will likely be subject to further interrogation; Haaretz said Mahash has decided to suspend the officer for a week and take his weapon.

The Mahash investigation also revealed that two people approached the officer and exchanged fire with him before they managed to escape unharmed.

It is worth mentioning that Israel Omer Bar-Lev, the Israeli Minister of Public Security, expressed his support to the officer who killed Sanad, while the Israeli Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai claimed the killing of Sanad is connected to the killing of Nader Haitham Rayyan, 17, in Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus, and the killing of Ala’ Mohammad Shaham, 22, in Qalandia refugee camp, north of occupied Jerusalem, are connected.

The Mayor of Rahat, Fayez Abu Sheiban, denounced the killing of the young man and told the Kan public broadcaster “I hope it does not lead to riots. Residents told me that the young man who was killed was a passerby and was not connected to the shooting.”

Talking to the Palestinian TV Abu Sheiban said the fact that Israel sends undercover forces to kill a Palestinian citizen of Israel, even if they had planned to abduct him, shows that Israel’s leadership and the police have two sets of laws applied to Israelis and Palestinian citizens of Israel.

“We are the natives, the indigenous of this land, we didn’t come here as settlers, or immigrated from various parts of the world,” Abu Sheiban stated, “If the police wanted to arrest someone they can come and arrest him instead of sending undercover soldiers to kill him.”