Palestinian paramedic dies of wounds sustained in anti-occupation protest

A Palestinian paramedic has died more than a month after being critically injured during clashes between Israeli troopers and a group of Palestinian protesters participating in an anti-occupation rally along the fence separating the besieged Gaza Strip from the Israeli-occupied territories.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said in a statement that Mohammed Subhi al-Judeili died at a hospital in the southern West Bank city of al-Khalil, located 30 kilometers south of Jerusalem al-Quds, on Monday afternoon.

The 36-year-old man suffered skull fractures after a rubber-coated metal bullet struck him in the nose as Israeli military forces sought to suppress a “Great March of Return” protest rally in the eastern part of the Gaza Strip on May 3.

‘Judeili’s death amounts to war crime’

Meanwhile, Palestinian Minister of Health Mai al-Kaila has strongly condemned the Israeli army for firing directly at the Palestinian paramedic, and fatally wounding him in the face.

Kaila said Judeili’s death amounts to war crime, arguing that Israeli forces deliberately target Palestinian paramedics and ambulances as they are performing their humanitarian duties.

She then called on the international community to rush to protect unarmed Palestinians against Israeli military forces, adding that the latest death brings to five the toll of medics killed while tending to the wounded at Gaza's weekly border protests.

Palestinians have held weekly rallies on the Gaza border to protest the siege on the enclave and demand the right for refugees to return to their homes they were forced from during the 1948 creation of Israel.

More than 270 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces ever since anti-occupation protest rallies began in Gaza on March 30, 2018. Over 16,000 Palestinians have also sustained injuries.

The Gaza clashes reached their peak on May 14 last year, on the eve of the 70th anniversary of Nakba Day (Day of Catastrophe), which coincided with the US embassy relocation from Tel Aviv to occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds.

On June 13, 2018, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution, sponsored by Turkey and Algeria, which condemned Israel for Palestinian civilian deaths in the Gaza Strip.

The resolution, which had been put forward on behalf of Arab and Muslim countries, garnered a strong majority of 120 votes in the 193-member assembly, with 8 votes against and 45 abstentions.

The resolution called on UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to make proposals within 60 days “on ways and means for ensuring the safety, protection, and well-being of the Palestinian civilian population under Israeli occupation,” including “recommendations regarding an international protection mechanism.”

It also called for “immediate steps towards ending the closure and the restrictions imposed by Israel on movement and access into and out of the Gaza Strip.”

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