Security digital camera video from a West Bank village exhibits a younger man standing in a central sq. when he’s immediately shot and drops to the bottom. Two others speeding to his assist are additionally hit, leaving a 17-year-old useless, moments earlier than Israeli navy jeeps roll in.
An Associated Press assessment of the video and interviews with the 2 wounded survivors confirmed Israeli troopers opened fireplace on the three when they didn’t seem to pose a risk. One of the wounded Palestinians was shot a second time after he acquired up and tried to hop away.
The deadly taking pictures within the village of Beit Rima final week is the newest in a collection of incidents during which troopers appeared to fireside with out provocation, a development Palestinians say has worsened for the reason that outbreak of the Israel-Hamas struggle in Gaza three months in the past.
The Israeli navy mentioned troops entered Beit Rima in a single day on Thursday into Friday as a part of a “counter-terrorism operation.” It mentioned troops fired at suspects who threw explosives and firebombs at them.
The video, obtained by the AP from an area smoke store, doesn’t present anybody throwing explosives.
After reviewing the footage, a navy spokesperson mentioned troopers reported that one of many Palestinians — seen kneeling in entrance of an object simply exterior the body — was igniting a Molotov cocktail when he was shot.
The video, nevertheless, exhibits that the primary shot doesn’t hit the kneeling man, however reasonably one other Palestinian man, Nader Rimawi. Nader informed the AP that the article was a stack of cardboard bins and scraps of paper that 17-year-old Osaid Rimawi had gathered and was making ready to mild to maintain the boys heat.
Other movies of the taking pictures posted to social media and reviewed by AP seem according to Nader’s description of the article Osaid was making ready to mild. It is feasible movies taken from different angles might additional illuminate what occurred.
In interviews with the AP, the wounded village residents denied having thrown explosives and mentioned the shootings, about 2 a.m. Friday, have been unprovoked.
Two of the six Rimawi brothers have been within the city sq. when phrase unfold that Israeli troopers have been within the village. They mentioned they have been conscious of the military presence, however that there had been no confrontations. “We were with the young men standing at the roundabout of the town,” mentioned Mohammed Rimawi, 25. “We started looking around as we were standing and not doing anything.”
The half-hour safety digital camera video begins about 20 minutes earlier than the shootings with males gathering in small teams, strolling out and in of the body as automobiles come and go. Some males gesture elsewhere within the village.
The crowd within the body ultimately thins to underneath 10 males. Then they scatter as a shot hits Mohammed’s brother, 29-year-old Nader, within the left leg.
The video exhibits Mohammed working to assist earlier than being shot.
“We saw a sniper who started shooting. He shot him. I went to help him. Then he shot me,” mentioned Mohammed, who was struck by a bullet in his proper hip.
The video exhibits Osaid speeding to assist them as he slips one thing into his pocket. He is shortly shot and later dies of his wounds. His brother, Islam Rimawi, later informed AP that he discovered a lighter, 20 shekels ($5.36), and a pack of cigarettes in Osaid’s pocket.
Mohammed was in a position to crawl away, however the different two have been left rolling on the bottom. Nader stood up and tried to hop away, earlier than once more collapsing to the bottom. Speaking from his hospital mattress days later, Nader mentioned he collapsed after being shot in his proper leg.
Apart from Israeli troops carrying weapons, no weapons are seen all through the video. The shooter shouldn’t be seen both.
The video confirmed 4 armored Israeli automobiles arriving about 2 minutes after the taking pictures and roughly a dozen troopers getting out, weapons susceptible. They gathered round Mohammed. One soldier prodded Osaid together with his foot. Within 4 minutes, the troopers left the wounded Palestinians on the bottom and drove away, ignoring the stack of bins and declining to arrest them.
Another video of the taking pictures reviewed by the AP exhibits the stack of bins is then toppled by a Palestinian automotive speeding to evacuate the wounded.
Shortly after, Osaid — a highschool scholar learning to develop into a barber — was pronounced useless at a close-by hospital.
The navy spokesperson mentioned that there have been different situations the place Palestinians had thrown Molotov cocktails on the forces in Beit Rima that night time however mentioned he didn’t know when. The males shot within the video mentioned this was the one altercation in Beit Rima they have been conscious of that night time.
The navy didn’t reply when requested if troopers had violated navy coverage and didn’t say whether or not there can be an official investigation.
The Israeli rights group B’Tselem mentioned that even when questionable shootings are caught on digital camera and investigated by the navy, they hardly ever end in indictments.
“Cases like these happen quite regularly, but no one’s hearing about them,” mentioned Dror Sadot, a spokesperson for the group. “The military will say that it is opening an investigation. And this investigation will last for years, probably without any media covering it. And then it will be washed down the drain.”
In response to Sadot’s allegation, a navy spokesperson supplied this assertion: “Each investigation file is examined according to its circumstances. In the appropriate cases, various enforcement measures are taken, including the filing of indictments.”
Human rights teams have beforehand offered circumstances during which troopers opened fireplace with out their lives being at risk, in obvious violation of the navy’s guidelines of engagement. In most circumstances, the victims have been Palestinians, however Israelis have additionally been killed in high-profile shootings in the course of the struggle.
In December, three Israeli hostages who had escaped their Hamas captors in Gaza waved white flags and shouted for assist in Hebrew earlier than being gunned down by troopers.
Sadot mentioned her group has seen an unprecedented stage of violence from troopers and settlers within the West Bank for the reason that struggle broke out. The West Bank is experiencing one of many deadliest phases on report, based on United Nations displays.
Beit Rima resident Ahmed Rimawi, whose two brothers have been wounded within the taking pictures, mentioned he believes troopers have develop into extra aggressive for the reason that begin of the struggle. In the previous, they might initially fireplace stun grenades to disperse crowds within the village. Now, he mentioned, “they open fire directly on people.”
Palestinian well being officers mentioned 340 Palestinians have been killed within the three tense months since Hamas militants attacked southern Israel and killed about 1,200 individuals, largely civilians.
The Hamas assault prompted Israel to wage a blistering air and floor marketing campaign on the Gaza Strip that has killed over 23,000 individuals — and to tighten its grip on the West Bank by means of near-nightly, typically lethal, raids. Israel says the crackdown is aimed toward Hamas and different militant teams.
Mohammed and Nader are recovering from their wounds. Both usually work at a manufacturing unit in a close-by Palestinian village, packaging ready salads for market. They mentioned they received’t work once more till they can stroll.
Nader underwent surgical procedure Sunday for accidents to his thigh. Mohammed has been launched from the hospital however is unable to place weight on his proper leg. He limps across the household’s small ornate dwelling in Beit Rima — a village of about 4,000 individuals north of the town of Ramallah — with assistance from a metallic walker.
Back on the village roundabout, the partitions are plastered with the weathered faces of native males killed in encounters or clashes with Israeli forces. Among their ranks now seems Osaid’s {photograph}, gazing over the pockmarked spot within the floor the place he was killed.
Source: www.thehindu.com
