Israel closes probe into fatal shooting of Palestinian girl

Israeli authorities have closed an internal investigation into an Israeli police officer who shot and killed a Palestinian teenage girl and injured another in November 2015, Israeli news website Ynet news reported yesterday.

The officer shot and killed 14-year-old Hadeel Wajih Awwad and injured 16-year-old Nurhan Awad after the two girls attempted to stab passers-by near a central Jerusalem market.

Video footage at the time showed both girls running at a passer-by, apparently waving scissors. The officer then comes to the scene brandishing a gun, at which time the girl continue to move forward with their scissors. The officer then shot one of the girls to the ground while another Israeli passer-by knocked the other over with a chair.

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The officer then ran up to the girl who was immobilised from being knocked with a chair, and shot her at point blank range.

Hadeel Awwad died almost immediately, while her cousin Nurhan was taken to Shaare Zedek hospital in Jerusalem, where a spokesperson said that she had been taken into the operating room in serious condition, with two bullet wounds in her stomach. She was later sentenced to 13 years in jail.

Hadeel, a resident of the Ramallah-area Qalandiya refugee camp was the sister of Mahmoud Awwad, who died in 2013, several months after he was shot and injured during clashes with Israeli forces inside the refugee camp.

According to Ynet, Israeli police and state attorney investigators “accepted the officer’s version that he felt his life and the lives of those around him were in danger, leaving him no choice but to respond to the threat immediately.”

Ynet added that while the officer will not face criminal charges, “the investigative materials were transferred to the relevant authorities in the Israel Police to consider professional ramifications.”

An Israeli police spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.

Rights groups have routinely condemned Israel’s use of excessive force against Palestinians in response to attacks and alleged attempted attacks.