On Friday, an Israeli guard shot a Palestinian in an illegal Israeli colony in Hebron, in the occupied West Bank’s southern part.
Update: The Palestinian Health Ministry said the young man has been identified as Ala’ Khalil Qaisiyya, 26, from the Ath-Thaheriyya town, south of Hebron.
The Health Ministry said Israeli soldiers and colonizers have killed 157, including 36 from the Gaza Strip and 26 children, since the beginning of this year.
The Palestinian is the cousin of Sa’ad Mahmoud Qaisiyya, 25, who a paramilitary colonizer killed, on March 1, 2017, in the same colony.
Israeli reports said a security team member shot the Palestinian, who was reportedly “heading to a synagogue in Teneh Omarim colony, where holiday prayers were taking place,” and added that “the guard shot him at the entrance of the building.”
According to Ynet News, the Palestinian was shot in what it called “an attempted stabbing attack,” adding that the security guard shot him when he was “wielding his knife.” No Israelis were injured in the reported incident.
The report only indicated that the Palestinian was “neutralized,” a term various Israeli medical outlets use without providing further details, especially whether the person was killed or just ‘idled.’
The Israeli army instructed the colonizers to remain indoors until further notice and prevented vehicles from entering or leaving the colony.
There are 22 illegal Israeli colonies, fifteen outposts, and four’ industrial colonies’ on stolen Palestinian lands in Hebron, where about 21.000 colonizers reside.
The army also has 20 permanent military roadblocks in Hebron, resulting in constant closure and the isolation of many neighborhoods and communities.
Israel’s colonies in the occupied West Bank, including those in and around occupied East Jerusalem, are illegal under International Law, the Fourth Geneva Convention, and various United Nations and Security Council resolutions. They also constitute war crimes under International Law.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” It also prohibits the “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory.”
