Israeli soldiers executed 2nd wounded Palestinian in al-Khalil: Israeli rights group

A leading Israeli rights group says it has evidence that Israeli soldiers also shot dead a second wounded Palestinian in an incident in the West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron) last month.

The killing happened at the same time when Israeli sergeant Elor Azaria summarily executed one Palestinian on March 24, B’Tselem said on Monday. 

Azaria fired shots at the head of a Palestinian, Abdul Fatah al-Sharif, who had already been wounded by Israeli fire after an alleged stabbing attack against Israelis and was lying on the ground.

A second Palestinian, Ramzi al-Qasrawi, who was also alleged to have been involved in the attack with Sharif, was until now believed to have died of his injuries.

But B’Tselem says it has obtained stunning testimonies from two residents of the neighborhood that Qasrawi had also been first wounded by Israeli soldiers and then summarily executed in the same manner as Sharif.

The testimonies were obtained following the Israeli army’s lifting of strict restrictions imposed on Tel Rumeida, the neighborhood where the incidents occurred, it said.

The rights group further said that both eyewitness, Noor Abu Aisha and Amani Abu Aisha, documented parts of the incident with their cameras, but not the moment al-Qasrawi was shot, adding that they were ready to testify before any official body if summoned.

“The two stated that, on the day of the incident, they began following events after they heard gunshots from the street,” read the B’Tselem statement.

“They said that after both al-Sharif and al-Qasrawi were lying injured on the road, clearly posing no danger to anyone, and even before additional troops and the paramedics arrived on the scene, a soldier (or officer) went up to al-Qasrawi and shot him twice in the neck or head from several meters away.”

After the video showing the killing of Sharif emerged, Azaria was indicted on charges of manslaughter and inappropriate military conduct, rather than the more severe charge of murder.

He is now being held pending trial in open detention at a military base. However, Palestinians say the Tel Aviv regime has refused to give the soldier due punishment.

The United Nations described the killing as an “apparent extrajudicial execution” and said it was “a gruesome, immoral and unjust act that can only fuel more violence and escalate an already volatile situation.”

On Sunday, the Human Rights Watch also called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to open a formal investigation into serious Israeli crimes against the Palestinians over the past decades.

Another Palestinian killed

On Monday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said in a statement that 20-year-old Jamal Dweikat had been shot in the head by Israeli soldiers during clashes with them on the outskirts of Nablus on Friday.

At least 213 Palestinians, including children and women, have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces in what is regarded as the third Palestinian Intifada (uprising) since the beginning of last October.

The uprising came after the Israeli regime imposed restrictions on the entry of Palestinians into the al-Aqsa Mosque in al-Quds (Jerusalem) in August last year.

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