Israeli troops killed a 14-year-old Palestinian, Friday, as they continued their West Bank ‘crackdown’ on the Hamas movement, in the search for three missing Israeli youth.
No evidence of a kidnapping has been presented, and Palestinian journalists have called for a 3-day media boycott, calling on all news media to ‘commit to the media boycott and not to publish any information or conduct interviews with Palestinian ministers, government officials or security officials’, in lieu of recent violence in the region.
According to Palestinian security and medical sources, 14-year-old Mohammed Dudin was shot in the chest during a clash with Israeli soldiers, after they deployed to make arrests in Doura, south of Hebron.
Dudin was taken to the Alia hospital in Hebron, where he was pronounced dead, Al Ray reports via AFP.
In Qalandia refugee camp, north of Jerusalem, troops also shot and wounded two other young Palestinians, according to medics:
Mohammed Shehada, 21, was being treated in Ramallah and Mustafa Aslan, age 20, was reportedly in critical condition at Jerusalem’s Hadassah.
Israel is accusing Hamas of kidnapping three teenagers who went missing in the West Bank, last week, though the group denies the allegations.
A spokesperson for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said, recently, that the UN has no concrete evidence that the three Israelis were taken captive, explaining that the organization does not have an independent investigation team that can confirm such an abduction ever took place.
However, Ki-moon reportedly has condemned the incident as an ‘abduction’, along with The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as US Secretary of State John Kerry parroted verbatim the Israeli narrative, according to Al Ray, calling it a ‘kidnapping’.
Three ‘claims of responsibility’, so far, have come from the Salafist group Dawlat al Islam, Liberators’ Battalion of Hebron, and Al Aqsa Brigades (unconfirmed) — none of which have any connection with Hamas.
Even so, Israel has seized upon the incident of the missing teens as an opportunity to round up hundreds of Palestinians to be detained for questioning, severely injuring some while killing others, as they engage residents young and old, across the West Bank, in violent confrontations.
This all comes in the wake of the recent Nakba Day solidarity protest in which two Palestinian youth were killed in cold blood by live ammunition fired by Israeli soldiers.
Though Israel denies the allegations and mainstream media has all but forgotten about the incident, forensic studies have proven that live ammo was indeed the cause of death for the two.
Israel conducts routine invasions and abductions on a daily basis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, causing property damage, injury and death, leaving dozens of families homeless as soldiers raid villages and raze lands for the construction of new Jewish-only settlements.
This all in clear contravention of international law and in what is undeniably a criminal case of state-sanctioned apartheid and a slow ethnic cleansing against Palestinians by the Israeli regime.
Both Christian and Muslim holy sites are frequent targets for soldiers and civilians alike, with a level of silence coming from the international community that is nothing less than unacceptable.
According to Al Ray’s report, Palestinian PM Rami Hamdallah attended weekly prayers in Hebron, on Friday, but the army prevented him from attending Dudin’s burial in Doura town.
Furthermore, Hamas has lashed out at Palestinian leadership for its continued security coordination with Israel despite the new wave of arrest raids.
Meanwhile, The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) has announced a 3-day boycott of the news conferences and statements of the Palestinian government in protest of the repressive police practices against journalists.
The Police, on Friday, assaulted journalists as they attempted to hold a sit-in at al-Manara square, in central Ramallah. Police confiscated and damaged equipment, and briefly detained some.
According to the Electronic Intifada, one of the attacked is, in fact, a CNN crew member whose camera was reportedly broken in the scuffle that ensued.
A number of people gathered at a local mosque, following Friday prayers, in support of Palestinian prisoners and in solidarity against the violent assault on Hebron, by Israel, over the past week.
Some 125 Palestinian prisoners have joined the hunger strike since it began, in recent months, in protest of Israeli Administrative Detention policies, in which prisoners are held without charge or trial.
In the past week, Israeli troops have detained somewhere around 330 Palestinians, 240 of which are associated with Hamas.
Still, no actual evidence of an actual kidnapping or of Hamas involvement has been presented.
See related link: Thousands Attend Funeral for Hebron Teen
