Israeli sniper killed Palestinian who posed no danger, says B’Tselem

An Israeli sniper shot and killed Palestinian refugee Mohamed Abu-Hashhash, aged 19, in Al-Fawwar Refugee Camp near the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, even though he did not pose any danger, Israeli rights group B’Tselem said on Friday. The killing took place on 16 August when, according to a spokesperson for the Israel Defence Forces, officers raided the camp to arrest three Palestinians for questioning. B’Tselem says that its field researcher found that 32 Palestinians were wounded in the raid.

“The soldiers searched 150 to 200 homes,” reveals the B’Tselem report, “and in scores of them took up positions on rooftops. During most of the intrusions into homes, the soldiers closed all family members off in a single room or section of the house for several hours.”

The Israeli soldiers “broke windows, doors and walls and damaged property in 28 of the homes they invaded.” The residents of the camp then began to throw stones at the soldiers in the early hours of the morning.

“At around 10am, Abu-Hashhash and other youths climbed up to a rooftop in the camp and threw stones at soldiers who had taken up positions on nearby rooftops. The youths went up to the roof and back down again several times throughout the day.” An eyewitness told B’Tselem that while he was standing on the street with a group of youths, he saw part of a sniper’s rifle peeking out.

“Yet shortly after returning home,” the Israeli rights group points out, “Mohamed Abu-Hashhash went out of the house again and turned toward the group of youths who were hiding from the sniper in the alley. The moment he stepped outside, he was shot and fell.”

Although first aid teams in the camp carried him to an ambulance that was waiting on the main road, the young man was pronounced dead at Aliyah Government Hospital in Hebron.