Israel held Palestinian for 11 days while failing to determine if gun was real

A Palestinian was detained by Israeli authorities for 11 days while investigators failed to determine whether a weapon the man allegedly possessed was in fact real.

According to Haaretz, the Palestinian claimed the gun was a toy. During the entire time he was in prison, the man “was questioned only once, shortly after his arrest”.

“Although his detention was extended three times,” the paper reported, “police never obtained the results of tests that were supposed to determine whether the weapon was real.” In the end, the military court released the man on bail earlier this month.

The article describes how the Palestinian was detained by Israeli occupation forces on 23 June, after soldiers found what they described as a “dangerous weapon” in his home.

A military court extended his detention by six days, until 1 July, asking investigators to “carry out all the investigative actions necessary, including checking whether it was a proper weapon”.

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Four days later, after the man had appealed to the court, a police investigator disclosed that because the detainee claimed the weapon was a toy, “the item had been passed along to an examination by a weapons expert, who also couldn’t determine whether this was a real weapon”.

On 1 July, “the military court held another hearing regarding the case but police could still not determine the authenticity of the weapon.”

The next day, the Palestinian was “brought before the court for the third time”, where it was revealed that Israeli police “still couldn’t verify the gun”, and “asked to extend the suspect’s detention by six more days”.

The court then “ordered police to free the suspect, noting that he is a resident of Area C [of the West Bank] and owns a car leasing service which was having difficulty functioning with him in jail.”

The police told Haaretz that it would “continue to investigate the case”.