Israel kills Palestinians in Gaza, West Bank
Relatives of Tamer Arafat, killed by Israeli soldiers during protests in Gaza, mourn over his body during his funeral in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on 9 March.
APA images
10 March 2019
Israeli occupation forces killed one Palestinian as they responded to unarmed protesters in Gaza with lethal force for the 50th consecutive Friday of demonstrations held under the banner of the Great March of Return.
Tamer Khaled Mustafa Arafat, 23, was fatally shot with a live bullet to the head during demonstrations east of Rafah in southernmost Gaza, according to Al Mezan, a human rights group in the territory.
Arafat was taken to the European Hospital near Khan Younis where he succumbed to his injuries.
A photo of Arafat circulated on social media after his death:
Israeli forces injured 145 Palestinians during demonstrations on Friday, including 35 children, three journalists and three paramedics, according to Al Mezan.
Nearly half of those wounded were shot with live bullets, including five serious injuries.
Al Mezan says that 192 Palestinians have been killed during the protests since their launch on 30 March last year, including some 40 children, three paramedics and two journalists.
Israeli forces have injured tens of thousands more.
A United Nations independent commission of inquiry recently published its preliminary report stating that it had collected evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity by Israel which has used lethal military force against unarmed protesters.
Lethal tear gas canisters
Al Mezan stated that Israeli occupation forces “use tear gas canisters as a weapon directly aimed at the bodies of peaceful participants,” adding that 45 Palestinians were directly hit by tear gas canisters on Friday. They included three medics, one of whom was hit in the face, and one journalist.
Five Palestinian children have died after being struck by tear gas canisters since the start of 2018, according to Defense for Children International Palestine.
“Tear gas canisters can become deadly weapons when they are fired and strike a child’s torso or head,” Ayed Abu Eqtaish, a program director at DCIP, stated.
Killing at checkpoint
In the occupied West Bank’s Jordan Valley early on Sunday, Israeli forces shot and killed Salameh Salah Salameh Kaabneh, 22, at a checkpoint near Yafit, an Israeli settlement near Jericho.
Israeli police claimed that Kaabneh did not respond to calls to stop at the checkpoint, according to Israeli daily Haaretz.
A police officer then opened fire on the vehicle, fatally shooting Kaabneh, according to the Israeli account.
Israeli police also claimed that stolen goods and burglary tools were found in Kaabneh’s vehicle, and that there were two passengers in the car who fled the scene.
No Israeli forces were injured.
Kaabneh was from the Palestinian village of Fasayil, near Jericho.
Mourners carry the body of Samah Mubarak during her funeral in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on 9 March. The 16-year-old was shot and killed by Israeli forces at a West Bank checkpoint in January.
WAFA / APA images
Israel handed over the body of a Palestinian girl to her family on Friday.
Israeli forces had killed Samah Zuhair Mubarak, 16, at al-Zaayim checkpoint in the occupied West Bank east of Jerusalem on 30 January, alleging she attempted to stab a security guard at the checkpoint before she was fatally shot.
No Israeli soldiers were injured during the incident, as in many previous cases in which an alleged Palestinian attacker was killed.
Israel had withheld Mubarak’s body from her family for more than five weeks.
Israel regularly withholds the bodies of slain Palestinians to use them as bargaining chips, sometimes for years on end.
The army is currently understood to be holding the bodies of approximately 260 Palestinians killed since 1967.
