Israeli forces shoot, kill woman in East Jerusalem after alleged stabbing attempt

Israeli Soldiers Execute Palestinian Girl in Occupied Jerusalem
May 8, 2017
▻http://pchrgaza.org/en/?p=9096

(...) According to PCHR’s investigations and testimonies by eyewitnesses to PCHR’s fieldworker in occupied Jerusalem, at approximately 19:00 on the abovementioned day, Fatmah ‘Afif ‘Abdel Rahman Hjeiji (16), from Qarawet Bani Zaid village, northwest of Ramallah, was walking 10 meters away from a police checkpoint, which is permanently established at the southern entrance to the Damascus Gate. One of the soldiers suddenly screamed out, “knife”. Immediately, the Israeli soldiers stationed there opened fire at the girl. As a result, 30 live bullets hit her body; some of them penetrated her chest and waist from the right side. Therefore, Fatmah was killed on the spot. Eyewitnesses emphasized that after the girl fell on the ground, the Israeli soldiers continued shooting at her and not only attempting to wound or arrest her.

Following this, the Israeli police deployed in the area closed the scene and prevented anyone from approaching the girl, whose body had been on the ground for an hour. The police officers attacked and pushed dozens of civilians away. They chased Mahmoud Abu Sbeih (9) until he fell from height in the Damascus Gate area and was then taken to the hospital to receive medical treatment. (...)

B’Tselem denounces Israel for unjustified killing of Palestinian teen in Jerusalem
May 10, 2017 6:15 P.M. (Updated: May 10, 2017 11:06 P.M.)
▻http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=776971

B’Tselem noted that Israel’s Jerusalem District Police Commander Major General Yoram Halevy defended the shooting as lawful and appropriate. Israeli police spokespersons at the time said the officers had acted “determinedly and professionally” when they killed the teenager.

“The District Commander’s statement completely ignores the facts of the case: Hjeiji’s youth, the fact that she stood motionless, the short distance between her and the officers, the metal barrier separating her from the officers, and the obvious conclusion — that the officers shot and killed her when she posed no threat to them,” B’Tselem wrote.

“This statement, like similar sentiments expressed by other senior ranking officials and a mood of general hostility ever since October 2015, encourages security personnel to shoot to kill even in cases such as this, where lethal measures are unwarranted,” the human rights organization argued.

“This is no isolated incident,” B’Tselem affirmed, echoing numerous the numerous cases in which Israeli forces have been condemned for carrying out a “shoot-to-kill” policy of Palestinians who could have easily been disarmed and detained without being shot to death by Israeli forces.

An Israeli settler was shot and killed earlier this month at a military checkpoint, who Israeli police initially mistook for a Palestinian. About a month ago, almost at the very spot where Hjeiji was killed, and under similar circumstances, Israeli forces shot and killed 49-year-old Siham Nimr, who allegedly brandished a pair of scissors at them from the other side of the police barricade.

“The continued policy of fatally shooting Palestinians who do not pose a mortal danger illustrates the manifest discrepancy between the recognized and accepted principle that prohibits such use of gunfire, and a reality in which shoot-to-kill incidents are a frequent occurrence and are encouraged by senior officials and wide public support,” B’Tselem concluded in their report.