Category: Hebron - Page 76 - International Solidarity Movement

Israeli Forces Murder Female Student at Shuhada Street Checkpoint: “They could have arrested her so easily but they didn´t.”

22nd September 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

A Witness Recounts the Final Moments of 18-year-old Hadil Salah Hashlamoun’s Life.

This morning in the Tel Rumeida section of al-Khalil (Hebron) the sound of multiple rounds of live ammunition screamed out from the Shuhada Street checkpoint 56.

Standing at the checkpoint around 7:40 this morning, 34 year old Fawaz abu Aisheh ushered a few children from the scene where Israeli forces screamed in Hebrew at the terrified Hadil who was on her way to school. “They were screaming at her, ´Move back! Move Back!´ I knew she couldn´t understand so I intervened in Arabic and she listened to me immediately and I took her from the entrance to the exit of the checkpoint.”

In the photo, Hadil, in burqa, stands with Fawaz just off the foreground. “I tried to talk with her, she was terrified. She knew nothing.” Fawaz pleaded with the soldiers, who were multiplying quickly, to allow him to take her away from the checkpoint, to explain to her what was happening, to de-escalate the situation. “She listened to me immediately when first I spoke with her, but they moved me away and continued to scream at her in Hebrew which she obviously didn´t understand.”

18-year old Palestinian student moments before being shot to death by Israeli forces Photo credit: Youth Against Settlement — 18-year old Palestinian student moments before being shot to death by Israeli forces
Photo credit: Youth Against Settlement

The scene, plainly described by Fawaz, seemingly had any number of alternatives to close-range, rapid fire, kill shots into a Palestinian female teenager´s body. After the fact, Israeli forces claimed the woman had a knife on her person. Fawaz challenges this contention. “She was covered completely, there was no knife showing at any time. Even if she did have a knife he could have arrested her so easily. I was there… I could have talked to her, she cooperated with me in that very first moment. I asked her to move and she moved but after that I begged him to let me talk to her but they took me away from her and started pointing their weapons at me. After they shot her more and more soldiers arrived. There were still 3 or 4 kids a few meters from the checkpoint so I moved the kids away. ”

As if the incident weren´t wholly disturbing in itself, beyond the shooting, Israeli soldiers were seen laughing, smiling and talking casually with one another as Hadil clung to life while rapidly losing blood to the concrete. Israeli settlers similarly stood in circles photographing Hadil. Fawaz noted that the Palestinian ambulance had arrived within five minutes to rush the dying girl to the hospital, yet Israeli forces blocked them from getting to her, choosing rather to let her bleed openly for forty minutes in the street until an Israeli ambulance arrived. In that agonizing period of time, an Israeli soldier was seen dragging the dying young woman by her feet.

18-year-old Hadil Salah Hashlamoun died of her wounds only after arriving at a hospital in Jerusalem. The question of whether she would have lived had she been permitted the right to be treated immediately by the quickly arriving Palestinian ambulance rather than left to bleed out for an eternity of forty minutes may never be answered.

If humanity, in any measure, exists within the occupying entity, it was shockingly absent today at the Shuhada Street checkpoint.

Palestinian teen shot in Hebron by Israeli forces dies from injuries

22nd September 2015 | Ma’an News Agency | Hebron, occupied Palestine

A Palestinian teenager shot by Israeli forces at a checkpoint in Hebron died from her injuries on Tuesday, Israeli medical sources said.

The teenager, identified as 18-year-old Hadeel al-Hashlamon, was shot three times by Israeli soldiers after allegedly attempting to carry out a stabbing attack, Israel’s army said.

A spokesperson for the Shaare Zedek Medical Center where she was taken for treatment said the teenager was “terribly injured, and underwent surgery upon her arrival.”

She later died from her injuries, the spokesperson confirmed.

No Israeli soldiers were injured during the incident, and the Israeli army did not release photographs of a knife, as they have done on several other recent occasions.

The army spokeswoman said that the attack had been “thwarted.”

Israeli soldier shooting at 18-year old girl — Israeli soldier shooting 18-year old girl Photo credit: Youth Against Settlement

A local activist group Youth Against Settlements later released what it said were photos of the incident, appearing to show Israeli soldiers aiming their weapons at the woman, as first she faced them and afterward turned away from them.

Another photo appeared to show the woman slumped on the street, after she was shot and wounded.

Video footage from Palestinian news agency PalMedia showed al-Hashlamon left bleeding on the pavement, reportedly for up to 30 minutes before she received treatment.

The footage shows the woman being dragged out of camera frame, while soldiers and heavily armed settlers look on.

Al-Hashlamon’s death marks at least 25 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since the start of 2015, according to UN documentation, not including Palestinian deaths caused by Israeli settlers.

Israeli soldiers attempt to falsely arrest internationals

22nd September 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Last night Israeli soldiers threatened to arrest internationals, who were present during the arrest of 3 Palestinian boys in Tel Rumeida, al-Khalil (Hebron).

After the 3 boys were brought to the military base, internationals went back into the house in Tel Rumeida. Ten minutes later about 15 soldiers surrounded the house and half a dozen of them walked up the stairs to the main door, demanding them to open it, because they wanted to arrest the internationals.

Even though the internationals repeatedly asked to see a warrant on the arrest, soldiers kept refusing to show any legitimate reason for their arrest. The soldiers only verbally accused the internationals of entering a closed military zone. When the internationals refused to open the door as soldiers cannot arrest internationals, they kept banging on the door, shouting and threatening to bring the police to have them arrested. Upon the embassies requests, the internationals asked for the commanders name which was outright refused by soldiers in front of the door.

After about one and a half hours, the soldiers called the police and a policeman arrived, He did not talk to the internationals at all, and left after less than half an hour. In the meantime, soldiers started accusing the internationals of consuming drugs in the apartment without any real reason or evidence. After yet another half hour soldiers again called the police, and came to the door with a policeman that did not speak any English. Instead of translating what the Policeman was saying to the internationals, the soldier just kept up the same conversation as before, with only one sentence being translated to the policeman. The soldiers refused to let the policemen talk to the international’s lawyer and did not give the internationals any information on how to contact the police station or military base, who send out the arrest warrant. After the policeman left the soldiers threatened the internationals to break down the door of the house.

In total, soldiers stayed outside the apartment for about four hours, threatening internationals with arrest, leaving only with the threat of the police arresting them the next morning.

Three Palestinian boys violently arrested at night in Hebron

21st September 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

Monday the 21st of August three boys were arrested in the Tel Rumeida area of Hebron, occupied Palestine. The boys were arrested at 8:45 pm and taken to the military base in Tel Rumeida.

Two of the boys were arrested after allegedly having a fight with ‘Jewish boys’. The two boys – Awne Abu Shamsiyye, 17, and Tarek Salhab, 17 – where both dragged up a hill by soldiers, the first handcuffed, the latter one with his arms twisted behind his back by a soldier. The three boys from the illegal settlement in Tel Rumeida however, did not even get stopped or questioned by the soldiers.Instead, they stood watching the arrest and harrassing the boy’s families and Palestinian families living in the neighbourhood.

Boy blindfolded and handcuffed by Israeli army.

Nizar Salhab, only 16 years old, was accused of hitting a soldier, and thus handcuffed and blindfolded by soldiers in front of Gilbert checkpoint. He was forced to wait standing on the sidewalk unable to see anything for almost an hour. His family and friends then helped him remove the blindfold, only a few minutes before the army took him to the military base in a jeep.

One of the boys being dragged up the hill by a soldier.

Even though soldiers claimed to have video-evidence for all the accusations, Awne was released after about two hours in the military base. The two other boys instead were taken to the police station and only released after about 5 hours.

Random arrests of Palestinian chlidren is a common occurence in al-Khalil (Hebron). Palestinian families constantly have to live with the fear of their children being arrested or kidnapped and disappeared, with soldiers not informing families of these kind of events. The three boys yesterday, fortunately, were released – but still this only happens rarely and still, they were detained for a long time without any evidence or valid reason.

Israeli forces targeting Palestinian children in al-Khalil (Hebron)

Everyday, Palestinian families get attacked by Israeli forces in their own homes. Sometimes they bang on the door in the middle of the night, scaring children and adults, ransacking the house. On some of these raids, both during the night and in daytime, Israeli forces randomly arrest family members and take them to an unknown destination without any reason.

Last night, Israeli forces entered the Palestinian market in the Old City of al-Khalil (Hebron) and entered a Palestinian family home where they kidnapped an 8-year old girl and arrested 3 more young men. All of them were walked towards the military base in Shuhada street, but then kept behind a fence and military gate for more than 15 minutes before being released. No reason was given for the random arrest.

Small boy forced to pass Israeli forces' armored trucks — Small boy forced to pass Israeli forces’ armored trucks

Even the way to school can be a dangerous and perilous journey for children in al-Khalil (Hebron). Having to pass through sometimes multiple checkpoints to get to school, children as young as 4 years old have to pass by heavily armed Israeli soldiers. As if the ubiquitous military presence weren’t scary enough, children are subjected to bag-searches, frisking, detainment and arrests. With Israeli forces using tear gas on children on their way to school and back home after a long school-day, children also have to duck away from tear-gas grenades shot towards them and navigate past clouds of tear-gas lingering on in the alleys.

Israeli forces shooting tear gas at children on their way to school

Arresting children under the age of 11 is illegal even under Israeli law, as it is considered to be too traumatizing and detrimental to a child’s well-being, regardless of the accusations brought forward against a child. However, Palestinian children are detained, frisked, body-searched and arrested by Israeli forces on an every-day basis. As this illegal practice does not result in any consequences for the soldiers or policemen at all, Palestinian children are constantly at risk of maltreatment, abuse and denial of their most basic human rights.