Funeral for yet another martyr in Gaza

23rd October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza team | Gaza Strip, occupied Palestine

Thousands of persons attended the funeral of Ahmad Serhe, 27 years old, in Deir El Balah on 21st October 2015. He was killed the day before in Bureij by an Israeli sniper.

Funeral procession
Funeral procession

 

Funeral procession
Funeral procession

 

The body of Ahmad Serhe
The body of Ahmad Serhe

 

Body carried by the procession
Body carried by the procession

 

Digging the grave
Digging the grave

 

At the cemetry
At the cemetry

 

Speach at the funeral
Speach at the funeral

 

Senseless Israeli violence against demonstrators in Gaza

17th October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza team | Gaza, occupied Palestine

At yesterday’s demonstrations in Nahel Oz (east of Shijaia) and Erez Border (Beit Hanoun), 2 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces and almost one hundred were injured.
Yahiya Abd al-Qader Farhat, 24 years old, and Mahmoud Hatim Hmeid, 22 years old were killed by Israeli forces. More than 90 persons have been injured, including journalists and paramedics. Ambulances and paramedics were repeatedly directly targeted by the Israeli forces.

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Israeli army jeep with device to shoot tear gas, directed at Palestinian demonstrators
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Tear gas fired at the demonstrators
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Demonstrators as seen through clouds of tear gas
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Injured person carried away to an ambulance
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Demonstrators with Palestinian flags at the border wall
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Another injured taken to the ambulance
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Medics carrying an injured person to an ambulance
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A Palestinian demonstrator at the wall
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Clouds of tear gas at the wall
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Ambulances and medics targeted by Israeli forces
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Ambulances and first aid personnel suffering from tear gas directed at them by Israeli forces

The other occupation: Settlers terrorize Palestinians of the West Bank

11th October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

It was another emotional day for Palestinians in al-Khalil, (Hebron) after the burial of martyr Muhammad al-Jabari who was shot to death by Israeli forces near the entrance to the illegal Kiryat Arba settlement.

Thousands filled the streets as the body of the 19 year old boy was carried through the masses up to the martyr’s cemetery which is the same cemetery where 18 year old unarmed Palestinian female student Hadeel Hashlamoun was laid to rest after being shot to death at the checkpoint yawning into segregated Shuhada Street.

Immediately beyond the service, Palestinians gathered in the Bab al-Zawiya section of Khalil for a demonstration against the Israeli occupation forces use of violence which has now claimed the lives of nearly 20 young Palestinians in just one week.  The demonstration was met with extreme violence by the Israeli military which settlers in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood gathered to watch on Saturday afternoon.

The Shamsiyyeh family’s home has long been the target of violence from Israeli settlers who have thrown rocks and other debris as well as poisoning their water tanks on several occasions and even cutting their water pipes on the roof.  Today, settlers again filed onto the family home’s roof to watch the Israeli military assault on Palestinians in Bab al-Zawwiya, some armed with machine guns.

Israeli occupation forces predictably did nothing to calm the situation or remove the settlers from the roof of the family home. One settler sprayed pepper spray from the roof, gassing the family and subsequently himself.  Israeli forces allowed him to leave with the pepper spray without asking a single question.

Israeli settler pointing his gun at Palestinian families
Israeli settler pointing his gun at Palestinian families

Just a few hours later, a settler armed with a machine gun, lightly slung around him just like an accessoire, came onto the roof. Soldiers close-by refused to ask the settler to leave from the private Palestinian family home’s roof. The settler then suddenly pointed his machine gun at Palestinians, including small children, on nearby houses roofs. Soldiers at first watched the events unfold only to join the settler on the roof, taking orders from him on what to do.
Watch a video here:

In occupied al-Khalil, it has been apparent that settlers rule the military, both through demanding arrests and ID checks of Palestinians and through getting away with any transgression of Palestinian’s human rights by being handed total impunity by the occupying forces.  This is especially disturbing since a West Jerusalem mayor has publicly called for settlers to carry guns amidst a high pressure situation with exploding violence across the occupied Palestinian territories.

In the Tel Rumeida section of al-Khalil, just days ago, settlers held a large march up the hill chanting “Death to Arabs” and burning Palestinian flags.

Beit El demonstration under attack by Israeli forces after Martyr laid to rest

10th October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Ramallah, occupied Palestine

Less than one hour after the Halabi family laid their son, martyr Mohannad al-Halabi, to rest in a cemetery in Ramallah, violent confrontations broke out in the nearby Beit El area. In a continuation of the sharp escalation in violence seen across the occupied Palestinian territories and Jerusalem, demonstrations across the West Bank today were met with an unleashing of brutality by Israeli forces that left hundreds injured and two dead.

After withholding the body of 19 year old Mohannad al-Halabi for seven days, his family received him at 2am Friday morning at a hospital in Ramallah.  Thousands gathered Friday afternoon at the Abd al Nasser Mosque for prayers before bringing his body to a nearby cemetery where he was laid to rest near his grandfather.

As Palestinians filled the streets in the Beit El area for demonstration, Israeli forces began showering the crowd with rapid live ammunition fire, hitting 23 and seriously wounding at least 2. 44 others sustained injuries by rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and clouds of tear gas which were fired in rapid succession by venom trucks.  Water cannons filled the streets with foul smelling organic or chemical composition fluid.

Confrontations raged on during a demonstration near the Beit El settlement
Confrontations raged on during a demonstration near the Beit El settlement

A Palestinian youth was unharmed after being run over at the demonstration by an Israeli military jeep.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unRWEnqmbm0

Video credit: Maan News

In Gaza City, where West Bank and Jerusalem solidarity demonstrations were held, 7 young Palestinians were martyred in similarly brutal Israeli military attacks that utilized exploding bullets aimed at Palestinian children’s heads and chests. 145 others were reportedly injured as Israeli military forces opened fire at the demonstration held by the border fence east of Gaza City, near Khan Younis on Friday, medics and the Ministry of Health confirmed.

The injured in Gaza demonstration
The injured in Gaza demonstration

Two Palestinians have been confirmed killed by Israeli occupation forces as of today, bringing the toll of Palestinians murdered in a week of sharply escalated violence in the West Bank to 16 martyred. Over 1,000 have been injured during the escalation. Tensions were sparked after the Israeli government, again, imposed restrictions and refused Muslims entry into al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

An Israeli governmental official in Jerusalem, days ago, made inflammatory statements in calling for Israeli’s to arm themselves amidst the conflict. These statements sharply conflict with other Israeli official’s statements claiming to want to calm tensions raging throughout the West Bank where Palestinians are undergoing not just Israeli military violence but brutal attacks by settlers which include attacks on Palestinian cars, homes and random attacks in the streets.

Days ago in the Tel Rumeida section of al-Khalil, (Hebron) nearly two hundred settlers marched, burning Palestinian flags, chanting ‘death to Arabs,’ and attacking Palestinians and human rights monitors with stones and physical violence.

Today, the 22 year old Palestinian man shot to death near the Kiryat Arba illegal settlement in al-Khalil will be laid to rest after funeral services.  In the occupied Palestinian territories, violent escalation continues.

 

Gaza – a bloody Friday

9th October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza team | Gaza, occupied Palestine

UPDATE – 8pm: 8 martyrs and close to 100 persons injured at today’s demonstration in Shijaia

Palestinians demonstrating in Gaza
Palestinians demonstrating in Gaza
Israeli forces as seen from Gaza
Israeli forces as seen from Gaza
Palestinian man shot in the stomach by Israeli forces
Palestinian man shot in the stomach by Israeli forces
Injured Palestinian carried to an ambulance
Injured Palestinian carried to an ambulance
Injured Palestinian carried away
Injured Palestinian carried away

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UPDATE – as of 6 pm today: From Osama al Jaro, Public Relations head at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza: 6 dead, 60 injured, 11 injured under the age of 18. Israeli forces are using exploding bullets, fired at the chest and head.

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The situation in Gaza this Friday has taken an even more dramatic turn, when this morning a large group of young people were demonstrating in support of Jerusalem and against the occupation, near the border of the Strip, in Shishaia.

The unarmed rally was cowardly and violently attacked by Israeli snipers, killing at least four people and injuring more than forty. In some cases the gun shots were fired directly at the heads of the demonstrators.

Also in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, another rally was brutally repressed, this time two adolescents, 15 and 19 years old, were killed and the number of injured is around twelve.

This is cruelty towards the unarmed young people, exercising their right to protest against the brutal actions of the illegal Israeli occupation, as the Gaza Strip is surrounded by military turrets, tanks, drones and fences equipped with high technology. Therefore the Israeli soldiers, from their hidden and protected distance, set about to kill unarmed and defenseless Palestinian adolescents in cold blood – just for the pleasure of killing.