This image has been repeated frequently since Israel launched a war against Hamas in Gaza and a military operation in the West Bank. Apparently unarmed people was shot in the middle of the street and they fall as other passersby try to save them from the bullets. As they try to get closer, the sniper continues shooting. Sometimes those who go to save the fallen die. In some cases, they manage to save them by tying themselves to ropes or crawling.
This is what happened, for example, in Gaza City on December 31, according to an investigation presented by Al Jazeera television this Sunday.
In the footage, you see a woman collapse lifelessly on the ground, an apparently injured child shaking his head, and several men trying to save him. As they approach, the sniper responsible for the massacre continues to fire. They throw cables and pieces of wood over the child so he can hold on.. He eventually succeeds and is taken out of the danger zone. Later, a man takes her away.
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Young women, Hadeel Haroun Abu al-Qara, 20 years old, died after being shot with a gun. He was a first-year medical student at the Islamic University of Gaza (now destroyed). The rescued child was his cousin Imad Hazem Abu al-Qara, and have four years. Hadeel accompanied his cousin Imad to a nearby supermarket to buy food, the family told Agencia Sana.
According to the story told by relatives and witnesses of the Qatar network, An Israeli sniper shot them While walking at Abu Iskandar intersection in Gaza’s Sheikh Al Radwan neighborhood. Al Jazeera confirms this newspaper’s questions video originalityThat’s not the only thing they’ve received, verified and released that shows sniper shooting.
HE Israeli Army (Israeli Defense Forces) did not respondAt the end of this issue, let’s move on to this newspaper’s questions about this case or similar cases.
“Such attacks would be clearly outside the boundaries of the international laws of war and Israel’s own operational doctrine,” he explains to this newspaper. Rob Geist PinfoldPhD and specialist in strategic studies from Durham University (UK) Israel’s security strategy. “It’s very difficult to know how widespread they are, but I think the real problem is that Israel has relaxed the rules of attack (rules of engagement) in this war. He prioritizes protecting his soldiers, and in the dark world of urban warfare, the result is that soldiers often shoot at places they think may be a threat. Unfortunately, most of the time the shootings were not justified.”
The British-Israeli analyst points out that the change in doctrine was revealed when the soldiers of the three Israeli hostages who were held by Hamas and managed to escape were shot and killed. Although they were half-naked to make it clear that they were not carrying weapons, with white flag Shouting in Hebrew, Israeli soldiers shot them and killed them on the spot.
Israeli Minister of Defense on October 10 Joab Brave He announced an all-out attack on Gaza and said: “I removed all restrictions“We will regain control of the region and move towards an all-out attack.”
Dozens of complaints about shooting civilians
The number of unarmed civilians reportedly shot dead is in the dozens.
British channel ITV recorded the moment when snipers shot and killed a man. Ramzi Abu SahlulPerson giving an interview and carrying a white flag.
On December 22, the Christian Patriarchate of Jerusalem condemned this two Palestinian women (Nahida and her daughter Samar) They were killed in an attack by an Israeli sniper on the Holy Family Church in Gaza. After the attack began on October 7, Christian families in the Strip took shelter there.
Reports of sniper attacks on civilians not limited to these Gaza Strip, It is one of the three parts of Palestinian territory illegally occupied by Israel, along with East Jerusalem and the West Bank. On November 29, two children were shot and killed during the Israeli Army raid on the West Bank city of Jenin. Their names were Adam Samer al Ghoul (eight years old) and Basil Suleiman Abu al Wafa (15 years old).
In one of the videos, later confirmed by CNN, eight year old boy He is shot in the street and dragged behind a car by another minor, leaving a trail of blood in his path.
Another illustrative example of this common practice occurred on October 19. Israeli army and Border Police forces attacked the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarem (West Bank) for 30 hours. They killed at least 13 Palestinians.
One of the people who died Taha Mahamid, 15 years oldHe was shot and killed by Israeli forces in front of his house when he went out to check if Israeli forces had left. According to witness statements and videos reviewed by Amnesty International, Taha was unarmed and did not pose any threat to soldiers when he was shot. Inside video taken and verified by one of his sisters Amnesty International, Taha is seen walking on the street, going out to check if there were soldiers, then falling into the street in front of the house after three gunshots were heard.
When Taha’s father, Ibrahim Mahamid, tried to take his injured son to safety, Israeli forces shot him in the back.
In this war in Gaza (the fifth major offensive in the Strip since Hamas came to power), Israel killed at least 28,000 people and injured 67,000, according to the latest data published in the United Nations daily report with Palestinian Ministry figures. Health. This is Israel’s retaliation for the worst Hamas attack in Israeli history, in which approximately 1,150 people died.
There is about 1.7 million displaced people. The majority take shelter in the city of Rafah, near the Egyptian border, or in makeshift tents in the region. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered preparations to be made for an attack on the last bastion of civilians in Gaza.