Israeli soldiers shot and wounded, on Saturday morning, a young Palestinian man near Beit ‘Aour al-Foqa town, West of the Central West Bank City of Ramallah, before abducting him; Israeli army sources claim the Palestinian stabbed a soldier, causing a mild injury.
The young Palestinian, identified as Mahmoud Nassim Jomhour, was shot near Road #443, southwest of Ramallah after allegedly attempting to stab an Israeli soldier in the hand with a sharp object. There has been no independent confirmation of the army’s claim – in numerous previous incidents, Israeli military spokespeople have fabricated attacks by Palestinians to justify their shooting of the Palestinians, and these allegations are later proven to be false.
Jomhour is from Beit ‘Anan town, northwest of occupied East Jerusalem. The checkpoint where he was shot is located on Route 443, an Israeli bypass road that is considered the main traffic artery between Ramallah and several Palestinian villages to the southwest of the city.
The Red Crescent said its medics tried to provide first aid to the wounded Palestinian, in an attempt to move him to a local hospital, but the soldiers prevented them. The Israeli military then took the wounded young man to an unknown destination.
Israeli army sources said the Palestinian was shot, and mildly wounded, after he “stabbed a soldier in the upper body,” and that another soldier shot the young man in the shoulder before the soldiers arrested him.
Both were treated at the scene before being moved to the Shaare Zedek Medical Center, in occupied Jerusalem.
On August 9, 20-year-old Anas Taha from Qatanna, to the northwest of Jerusalem, was shot dead by Israeli soldiers near Ofer prison, west of Ramallah, also for reportedly stabbing an Israeli settler.
According to a report published on June 2015, B’Tselem, Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, documented dozens of cases in the Ramallah area of the West Bank in which Palestinians were injured, some severely, by live ammunition fired by Israeli security forces.
Medical reports collected from Palestinian hospitals by B’Tselem field researcher Iyad Hadad indicate that at least 47 Palestinians – including one woman and 24 minors – were injured by live fire in the West Bank since the beginning of February 2015 in demonstrations or clashes with Israeli security forces.
“The frequent use of live ammunition at demonstrations, in breach of open-fire regulations, shows that it is a not a matter of exceptional incidents but rather the implementation of an unlawful policy,” stated the center.
B’Tselem called on ‘the security forces to discontinue the use of any and all live gunfire – with any type of ammunition – aimed at unarmed civilians, with the exception of extreme situations of immediate mortal danger.’
