News / Palestine

Israelis killed Palestinian with 'illegal ammunition'

Wednesday, 09 December 2015 6:11 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 09 December 2015 3:04 PM ]

The body of 19 year-old Palestinian Malik Akram Shahin who was killed by Israeli security forces, is carried during his funeral procession in the Dheisheh refugee camp near the West Bank town of Bethlehem on December 8, 2015. (AFP photo)

Medical sources say a 19-year-old Palestinian shot dead by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank was killed with a type of bullet which is considered illegal under international law.

Medical sources with Beit Jala Hospital said on Tuesday that Malik Akram Shahin was shot in the head with an explosive bullet, which caused his skull to shatter into “hundreds of pieces.”

Medics say Israeli forces clearly aimed to kill the Palestinian youth, as he was shot directly in the head with “dum dum” bullets, which expand upon impact.

Ma’an News Agency quoted a local as saying that Shahin was "left bleeding for a long time before he was evacuated to the public hospital in Beit Jala, where medics pronounced him dead."

He was killed when Israeli forces stormed the Dheisheh refugee camp, located south of the city of Bethlehem.

The use of such bullets is considered a war crime under the 1899 Hague Declaration and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

This photo taken at Beit Jala Hospital in the West Bank town of Bethlehem shows fractured skull of Malik Akram Shahin, who was shot dead in clashes with Israeli forces. ©Ma’an news

The bullets are known to cause severe damage to their victims, as they are designed to splinter apart and become lodged deep in the body.

This comes as Tel Aviv has repeatedly denied claims by Palestinian medical examiners that its forces use such bullets.

Israeli forces have been killing Palestinians on an almost daily basis since October when tensions intensified between the two sides.

Palestinians have been witnessing increasing violence by Israeli forces and settlers, who frequently storm the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the third holiest site in Islam. The Palestinians say the Tel Aviv regime seeks to change the status quo of the compound.

Some 120 Palestinians and about 20 Israelis have been killed in the recent wave of clashes between Palestinians and Israelis since the start of October.

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