Palestinian boy shot by Israeli forces dies in hospital

BY AGENCIES ISTANBUL 

MID-EAST
JUL 29, 2021

Israeli soldiers deployed to a Palestinian protest demanding that the Israeli army hands over the body of man who was shot dead by Israeli forces the previous night, in the village of Beita, in the occupied West Bank, July 28, 2021. (AFP Photo)

A Palestinian boy shot by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank has died from his wounds Wednesday, the Palestinian health ministry said.

Mohamad al-Alami, 12, died in the town of Beit Omar, to the northwest of the flashpoint city of Hebron, after he was shot in the chest while traveling in a car with his father, the ministry said in a statement.

He is the second young Palestinian to die of wounds sustained by Israeli fire in days.

In a statement, the Israeli army said soldiers had seen men get out of a vehicle near a military checkpoint and begin digging in the ground.

"Troops approached the scene with caution and upon examination found two bags, one of which contained the body of a newborn infant," it added, according to remarks carried by Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

When a vehicle approached the same spot a little while later, the army "concluded that it was the same vehicle as before" and attempted to stop it by shouting and firing shots into the air. When the vehicle did not stop, a soldier fired at its wheels.

"We are looking into the claim that a Palestinian minor was killed as a result of the gunfire," the army said. "The incident is being reviewed by senior commanding officers. In addition, the military police has launched an investigation into the circumstances of the event."

According to Palestinian media reports, the boy was sitting in his father's car when he was fatally injured. Palestinian media reported that local residents had buried a newborn in a cemetery near Hebron. After the soldiers had dug it up, they were told by the authorities to come back and rebury the child, as Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported.

On Saturday, a 17-year-old Palestinian died from wounds he received the day before. Mohammed Munir al-Tamimi, who suffered gunshot wounds, died in hospital, the Palestinian health ministry said, a day after violence in the Palestinian village of Beita.

Hundreds of Palestinians had gathered on Friday afternoon in Beita, a hot spot in recent months, to protest against the nearby wildcat Jewish settlement outpost of Eviatar.

The clashes pitted Palestinians against Israeli soldiers and resulted in 320 Palestinians being wounded, according to the Red Crescent.

And late Tuesday, a 41-year-old Palestinian was shot dead near Beita, the Palestinian health ministry said.

All Jewish settlements in the West Bank are regarded as illegal by most of the international community.

West Bank, 12-year-old Palestinian boy killed by an Israeli soldier

Mohamad al-Alam passed away last night in the hospital from his serious injuries. The soldier struck him in the chest with a bullet while the boy was in a car with his father. According to the Israeli army, the car was involved in suspicious activity and did not stop for a check. More than 320 Palestinians injured in clashes in recent days.

Jerusalem (AsiaNews/Agencies) - A 12-year-old Palestinian boy who was seriously wounded when shot by Israeli soldiers, during a patrol carried out in the Occupied Territories of the West Bank died yesterday evening.

His death was confirmed by the Palestinian Ministry of Health, according to which the victim, Mohamad al-Alami, was killed in the town of Beit Omar, northwest of Hebron.

The statement released by the ministry explains that the boy was shot in the chest while he was with his father inside the family car. Israeli military sources confirm the incident, stressing that one of the soldiers shot at the wheels of the car after detecting that the car was involved in previous "suspicious activities."

An official army memo states, ""The troops attempted to stop the vehicle using standard procedures including shouting and firing warning shots into the air. After the vehicle did not stop, one of the soldiers fired toward the vehicle's wheels in order to stop it."

Palestinians present at the time of the incident have a different version and claim the soldier aimed at the boy who later died in a hospital in the southern West Bank from his serious injuries.

Yesterday's is just the latest in a series of bloody events in the area in recent days. On the evening of July 27, a 41-year-old Palestinian was killed by an Israeli bullet in a West Bank town, the scene of clashes between protesters and security forces in recent weeks. On July 24, a 17-year-old Palestinian teenager, wounded the previous day during a heated confrontation with Israeli soldiers, died in the hospital where he had been admitted.

At the origin of the clashes, the demonstrations promoted by Palestinians against the Israeli occupation and the presence of soldiers in the West Bank. In the violence between the two sides there are at least 320 injured Palestinian demonstrators, most of them hit by tear gas, as reported by the Palestinian Red Crescent.

The settlements are communities inhabited by Israeli civilians and military personnel and built in the territories conquered after the Six-Day War of June 1967, in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and the Gaza Strip.

In 1982 Israel withdrew from the settlements in Sinai after signing the peace agreement (1979) with Egypt and in 2005 former Prime Minister Sharon ordered the dismantling of 17 colonies in the Gaza Strip. At the moment the colonies - illegal according to international law - are located in East Jerusalem, West Bank and Golan Heights and within them live about 470 thousand people.