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Maram 24 (pregnant) and Ibrahim Taha 16, apr 27 2016 |
1 may 2016
The Israeli who shot and killed a pregnant Palestinian woman and her teenage brother at the notorious Qalandiya checkpoint in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday was a private security contractor, not a member of the police forces, Israeli media revealed on Sunday.
The Israeli Justice Ministry released a report on Sunday, which revealed that Maram Salih Hassan Abu Ismail, 23, and her brother Ibrahim, 16, had been shot and killed by a privately contracted security guard, and not a police officer as had previously been thought, Israeli Channel 10 reported, noting that the police officer only fired warning shots into the air.
As a result, newspaper Haaretz wrote, the Justice Ministry’s police investigation unit won’t be opening a probe into the killings.
It remains unclear if and by whom a further probe will be conducted.
The revelation comes as serious questions have arisen over Israeli forces’ version of the events that led to the death of Abu Ismail and her younger brother earlier this week.
The contractor shot and killed the siblings after Israeli forces said that Abu Ismail, who was five months pregnant, threw a knife in the direction of Israeli forces at the Qalandiya military checkpoint.
However, witnesses at the scene said the two siblings posed no threat at the time the Israeli officer killed them, as they mistakenly entered the wrong part of the checkpoint and did not understand Israeli soldiers speaking to them in Hebrew.
Israeli police has so far refused to release security camera footage of the Qalandiya shooting, despite having done so in past cases under investigation.
An Israeli police spokesperson was not available for comment on Sunday.
Maram and Ibrahim Abu Ismail are among more than 200 Palestinians to be killed by Israeli forces or settlers since October, the majority during alleged or attempted small-scale attacks that have left nearly 30 Israelis dead.
UN investigations have shown that, in a number of instances since the unrest began, Israeli forces have implemented a policy of extrajudicial execution, shooting dead Palestinians who did not present imminent threat at the time of their death.
Israeli Justice Ministry drops probe after report that contractor behind Qalandiya killings
The Israeli who shot and killed a pregnant Palestinian woman and her teenage brother at the notorious Qalandiya checkpoint in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday was a private security contractor, not a member of the police forces, Israeli media revealed on Sunday.
The Israeli Justice Ministry released a report on Sunday, which revealed that Maram Salih Hassan Abu Ismail, 23, and her brother Ibrahim, 16, had been shot and killed by a privately contracted security guard, and not a police officer as had previously been thought, Israeli Channel 10 reported, noting that the police officer only fired warning shots into the air.
As a result, newspaper Haaretz wrote, the Justice Ministry’s police investigation unit won’t be opening a probe into the killings.
It remains unclear if and by whom a further probe will be conducted.
The revelation comes as serious questions have arisen over Israeli forces’ version of the events that led to the death of Abu Ismail and her younger brother earlier this week.
The contractor shot and killed the siblings after Israeli forces said that Abu Ismail, who was five months pregnant, threw a knife in the direction of Israeli forces at the Qalandiya military checkpoint.
However, witnesses at the scene said the two siblings posed no threat at the time the Israeli officer killed them, as they mistakenly entered the wrong part of the checkpoint and did not understand Israeli soldiers speaking to them in Hebrew.
Israeli police has so far refused to release security camera footage of the Qalandiya shooting, despite having done so in past cases under investigation.
An Israeli police spokesperson was not available for comment on Sunday.
Maram and Ibrahim Abu Ismail are among more than 200 Palestinians to be killed by Israeli forces or settlers since October, the majority during alleged or attempted small-scale attacks that have left nearly 30 Israelis dead.
UN investigations have shown that, in a number of instances since the unrest began, Israeli forces have implemented a policy of extrajudicial execution, shooting dead Palestinians who did not present imminent threat at the time of their death.
Israeli police refuse to release video of Qalandiya murder
The Israeli occupation police refused to release a video documenting the murder of a young Palestinian lady and her brother who posed no threat to the occupation troops, Hebrew press said on Sunday.
According to the Israeli police version, 23-year-old Maram Saleh Abu Ismail and her 16-year-old brother Ibrahim refused their order to stop and posed a threat to officers.
The Israeli police further claimed that Maram wielded a knife before she was shot along with her brother, who was walking behind her, by the Israeli police.
Eyewitness accounts, however, contradict such Israeli claims, saying the two casualties posed no threat and were at a distance from the occupation troops, who talked to them in a Hebrew language which they did not understand.
Haaretz newspaper quoted Israeli police sources as stating that videos documenting live scenes cannot be released during the investigation phase.
According to the newspaper, similar recordings legitimizing police use of force were released in the past.
Israeli police claimed, after searching the casualties’ bodies, that Ibrahim was holding a knife, which was discredited by eyewitness accounts.
The newspaper said a snapshot picked up at the scene shows the two martyrs lying on the ground 15 meters away from the checkpoint and in a place where no Israeli police officers were deployed.
MK Dov Khenin (Joint Arab List) demanded that "Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon and Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan launch an immediate probe into the scene and release the video".
Khenin said no recordings were released despite the fact that the checkpoint was equipped with several cameras.
Maram, who was shot dead by the occupation troops, is a mother of two kids and was expecting another baby. She was killed on her way to al-Maqasid hospital in Occupied Jerusalem.
The Israeli Justice Ministry released a report on Sunday, which revealed that Maram Salih Hassan Abu Ismail, 23, and her brother Ibrahim, 16, had been shot and killed by a privately contracted security guard, and not a police officer as had previously been thought, Israeli Channel 10 reported, noting that the police officer only fired warning shots into the air.
As a result, newspaper Haaretz wrote, the Justice Ministry’s police investigation unit won’t be opening a probe into the killings.
It remains unclear if and by whom a further probe will be conducted.
The revelation comes as serious questions have arisen over Israeli forces’ version of the events that led to the death of Abu Ismail and her younger brother earlier this week.
The contractor shot and killed the siblings after Israeli forces said that Abu Ismail, who was five months pregnant, threw a knife in the direction of Israeli forces at the Qalandiya military checkpoint.
However, witnesses at the scene said the two siblings posed no threat at the time the Israeli officer killed them, as they mistakenly entered the wrong part of the checkpoint and did not understand Israeli soldiers speaking to them in Hebrew.
Israeli police has so far refused to release security camera footage of the Qalandiya shooting, despite having done so in past cases under investigation.
An Israeli police spokesperson was not available for comment on Sunday.
Maram and Ibrahim Abu Ismail are among more than 200 Palestinians to be killed by Israeli forces or settlers since October, the majority during alleged or attempted small-scale attacks that have left nearly 30 Israelis dead.
UN investigations have shown that, in a number of instances since the unrest began, Israeli forces have implemented a policy of extrajudicial execution, shooting dead Palestinians who did not present imminent threat at the time of their death.
Israeli Justice Ministry drops probe after report that contractor behind Qalandiya killings
The Israeli who shot and killed a pregnant Palestinian woman and her teenage brother at the notorious Qalandiya checkpoint in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday was a private security contractor, not a member of the police forces, Israeli media revealed on Sunday.
The Israeli Justice Ministry released a report on Sunday, which revealed that Maram Salih Hassan Abu Ismail, 23, and her brother Ibrahim, 16, had been shot and killed by a privately contracted security guard, and not a police officer as had previously been thought, Israeli Channel 10 reported, noting that the police officer only fired warning shots into the air.
As a result, newspaper Haaretz wrote, the Justice Ministry’s police investigation unit won’t be opening a probe into the killings.
It remains unclear if and by whom a further probe will be conducted.
The revelation comes as serious questions have arisen over Israeli forces’ version of the events that led to the death of Abu Ismail and her younger brother earlier this week.
The contractor shot and killed the siblings after Israeli forces said that Abu Ismail, who was five months pregnant, threw a knife in the direction of Israeli forces at the Qalandiya military checkpoint.
However, witnesses at the scene said the two siblings posed no threat at the time the Israeli officer killed them, as they mistakenly entered the wrong part of the checkpoint and did not understand Israeli soldiers speaking to them in Hebrew.
Israeli police has so far refused to release security camera footage of the Qalandiya shooting, despite having done so in past cases under investigation.
An Israeli police spokesperson was not available for comment on Sunday.
Maram and Ibrahim Abu Ismail are among more than 200 Palestinians to be killed by Israeli forces or settlers since October, the majority during alleged or attempted small-scale attacks that have left nearly 30 Israelis dead.
UN investigations have shown that, in a number of instances since the unrest began, Israeli forces have implemented a policy of extrajudicial execution, shooting dead Palestinians who did not present imminent threat at the time of their death.
Israeli police refuse to release video of Qalandiya murder
The Israeli occupation police refused to release a video documenting the murder of a young Palestinian lady and her brother who posed no threat to the occupation troops, Hebrew press said on Sunday.
According to the Israeli police version, 23-year-old Maram Saleh Abu Ismail and her 16-year-old brother Ibrahim refused their order to stop and posed a threat to officers.
The Israeli police further claimed that Maram wielded a knife before she was shot along with her brother, who was walking behind her, by the Israeli police.
Eyewitness accounts, however, contradict such Israeli claims, saying the two casualties posed no threat and were at a distance from the occupation troops, who talked to them in a Hebrew language which they did not understand.
Haaretz newspaper quoted Israeli police sources as stating that videos documenting live scenes cannot be released during the investigation phase.
According to the newspaper, similar recordings legitimizing police use of force were released in the past.
Israeli police claimed, after searching the casualties’ bodies, that Ibrahim was holding a knife, which was discredited by eyewitness accounts.
The newspaper said a snapshot picked up at the scene shows the two martyrs lying on the ground 15 meters away from the checkpoint and in a place where no Israeli police officers were deployed.
MK Dov Khenin (Joint Arab List) demanded that "Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon and Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan launch an immediate probe into the scene and release the video".
Khenin said no recordings were released despite the fact that the checkpoint was equipped with several cameras.
Maram, who was shot dead by the occupation troops, is a mother of two kids and was expecting another baby. She was killed on her way to al-Maqasid hospital in Occupied Jerusalem.
An initial investigation reveals that a police officer stationed at the site of an attempted knife attack at Qalandiyah fired warning shots, but that fatal shooting was carried out by guards who stood nearby.
An initial investigation into an attempted knife attack by Palestinian siblings who were then shot dead in north Jerusalem last week revealed that the shooting was carried out by civilian security guards and not police forces.
Since police weren't the ones who fatally shot Maram Abu Ismayil, 23, and her brother Ibrahim Salah Tahah, 16, no probe was opened by Justice Ministry's police investigation unit into the officers involved.
The investigation into the incident revealed that a police officer who was stationed at the Qalandiyah checkpoint in north Jerusalem last Wednesday carried out a the proper arrest procedure, and as part of it fired shots in the air, but that the shooting at the siblings, one of which allegedly threw a knife at officers, was carried out by guards who stood nearby.
Civilian security guards contracted by the Defense Ministry are regularly stationed alongside police officers, Border Police and IDF soldiers in all major checkpoints between Israel and the Palestinian territories. The guards usually don’t come in contact with the Palestinians moving through the checkpoints, but rather stand behind concrete shelters and cover the police officers and soldiers.
According to the police, Wednesday’s incident at the Qalandiyah checkpoint began when the police noticed Abu Ismayil and Tahah walking toward to crossing point for vehicles where pedestrians are not allowed. Abu Ismayil continued walking with her hand in her back, and Tahah did so with his hand behind his back.
Ignoring orders to stop, when they were very close to the security barricade before the checkpoint, police said Abu Ismayil pulled a knife and threw it at a policeman, who was uninjured. Police and security guards then opened fire and killed them both. The police released photos of the three knives, the one Abu Ismayil threw and the two found on her brother’s body, one of which was a switchblade.
According to the police, the two were acting suspiciously and did not heed the police calls to sto. According to Palestinian witnesses, however, the siblings were far away from the police, were not a threat, and did not understand the calls for them in Hebrew to stop.
The father of the Palestinian siblings said that he gave his testimony at the police station at the checkpoint where the shooting took place. On Sunday, he said that he received summons from the Shin Bet. The siblings' bodies are still being held by Israel.
The police are refusing to make public the video showing the attempted knife attack. The Jerusalem Police said the video, if there was one, could not be made public because the incident was under investigation. However Haaretz checked and found that in a number of cases in the past the Police Spokesman’s Office had itself made public videos of similar incidences, even adding captions to explain what was happening and justifying the police actions.
An initial investigation into an attempted knife attack by Palestinian siblings who were then shot dead in north Jerusalem last week revealed that the shooting was carried out by civilian security guards and not police forces.
Since police weren't the ones who fatally shot Maram Abu Ismayil, 23, and her brother Ibrahim Salah Tahah, 16, no probe was opened by Justice Ministry's police investigation unit into the officers involved.
The investigation into the incident revealed that a police officer who was stationed at the Qalandiyah checkpoint in north Jerusalem last Wednesday carried out a the proper arrest procedure, and as part of it fired shots in the air, but that the shooting at the siblings, one of which allegedly threw a knife at officers, was carried out by guards who stood nearby.
Civilian security guards contracted by the Defense Ministry are regularly stationed alongside police officers, Border Police and IDF soldiers in all major checkpoints between Israel and the Palestinian territories. The guards usually don’t come in contact with the Palestinians moving through the checkpoints, but rather stand behind concrete shelters and cover the police officers and soldiers.
According to the police, Wednesday’s incident at the Qalandiyah checkpoint began when the police noticed Abu Ismayil and Tahah walking toward to crossing point for vehicles where pedestrians are not allowed. Abu Ismayil continued walking with her hand in her back, and Tahah did so with his hand behind his back.
Ignoring orders to stop, when they were very close to the security barricade before the checkpoint, police said Abu Ismayil pulled a knife and threw it at a policeman, who was uninjured. Police and security guards then opened fire and killed them both. The police released photos of the three knives, the one Abu Ismayil threw and the two found on her brother’s body, one of which was a switchblade.
According to the police, the two were acting suspiciously and did not heed the police calls to sto. According to Palestinian witnesses, however, the siblings were far away from the police, were not a threat, and did not understand the calls for them in Hebrew to stop.
The father of the Palestinian siblings said that he gave his testimony at the police station at the checkpoint where the shooting took place. On Sunday, he said that he received summons from the Shin Bet. The siblings' bodies are still being held by Israel.
The police are refusing to make public the video showing the attempted knife attack. The Jerusalem Police said the video, if there was one, could not be made public because the incident was under investigation. However Haaretz checked and found that in a number of cases in the past the Police Spokesman’s Office had itself made public videos of similar incidences, even adding captions to explain what was happening and justifying the police actions.
The Israeli occupation police refused to release a video documenting the murder of a young Palestinian lady and her brother who posed no threat to the occupation troops, Hebrew press said on Sunday.
According to the Israeli police version, 23-year-old Maram Saleh Abu Ismail and her 16-year-old brother Ibrahim refused their order to stop and posed a threat to officers.
The Israeli police further claimed that Maram wielded a knife before she was shot along with her brother, who was walking behind her, by the Israeli police.
Eyewitness accounts, however, contradict such Israeli claims, saying the two casualties posed no threat and were at a distance from the occupation troops, who talked to them in a Hebrew language which they did not understand.
Haaretz newspaper quoted Israeli police sources as stating that videos documenting live scenes cannot be released during the investigation phase.
According to the newspaper, similar recordings legitimizing police use of force were released in the past. Israeli police claimed, after searching the casualties’ bodies, that Ibrahim was holding a knife, which was discredited by eyewitness accounts.
The newspaper said a snapshot picked up at the scene shows the two martyrs lying on the ground 15 meters away from the checkpoint and in a place where no Israeli police officers were deployed.
MK Dov Khenin (Joint Arab List) demanded that "Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon and Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan launch an immediate probe into the scene and release the video".
Khenin said no recordings were released despite the fact that the checkpoint was equipped with several cameras. Maram, who was shot dead by the occupation troops, is a mother of two kids and was expecting another baby. She was killed on her way to al-Maqasid hospital in Occupied Jerusalem.
28 apr 2016
Palestinian medical sources confirmed that the Palestinian woman, who was killed by Israeli army fire, on Wednesday, did not carry an explosive belt as the army claimed, but was instead five months pregnant, and “her only fault was walking the wrong route and not understanding Hebrew.”
The Israeli police and army tried to come up with various allegations, including the usual claim of “carrying a knife,” and then tried to claim that she “was wearing an explosive belt,” while the only thing she “carried” was her fetus.
The slain woman has been identified as Maram Saleh Abu Ismael, 24, a mother of two children; Sarah, 6, and Remas, 4. Her brother, Ibrahim Taha, only sixteen years of age, was also killed as he was walking with her, heading to Jerusalem, after she obtained for the first time, a permit to enter the city.
In contrary to the Israeli allegation that Maram “carried a knife,” and the second allegation of “carrying an explosive,” eyewitnesses said the two victims walked the wrong route while heading to the Qalandia terminal, as they took the route that is only used for vehicles, instead of the pedestrian path.
The soldiers then started shouting in Hebrew, a language neither Maram nor her brother understood, and the woman just froze from fear before the soldiers started firing at her, and when her brother rushed to rescue her, the soldiers shot him too, and both were left to bleed to death.
The two were tens of meters away from the soldiers, and contrary to military allegations, did not attempt to attack any soldier or officer.
Ahmad Taha, an eyewitness from Jerusalem said that after the soldiers shot the pregnant woman and her brother, they retreated a few meters back, and fired several additional live rounds on them, “confirming the kill.”
“There was no stabbing attempt, and no reason for the army to shoot, the soldiers shot them from a distance, and later fired more rounds to confirm the kill,” Ahmad said, “The soldiers then placed two knives next to the lifeless body of the pregnant woman, and shortly after that, the police published pictures showing three knives!”
Mohammad Ahmad, a bus driver who witnessed the shooting, said an Israeli soldier, who standing behind a large concrete block, shot the woman from a distance of more than twenty meters.
“Neither the woman, nor her brother, posed any threat to the lives of the soldiers,” Ahmad stated, “They were far away from the nearest soldier, and did not pose any threat to them – they just walked the wrong route.”
The slain brother and his sister are from Qotna village, northwest of occupied Jerusalem; Maram is Married and living with her husband and children in Beit Surik nearby village.
It is worth mentioning that a Palestinian ambulance rushed to the scene, but the soldiers closed the entire area, and prevented them from approaching the two Palestinians, who eventually bled to death.
More than an hour after the shooting, Israeli military medics placed the corpses of the two Palestinians in black bags, and took them away.
One day before this fatal shooting, a Palestinian man in his sixty nearly faced the same deadly fate when he walked this same wrong route, but when the soldiers started shouting at him he understood them because he speaks and understand Hebrew very well.
Barhoum slams PA’s silence over Israeli bloodshed
Hamas on Wednesday slammed the world’s silence over Israel’s cold-blooded execution of a Palestinian girl and her brother at the Qalandiya checkpoint earlier in the day.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in a press statement: “The silence maintained by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and its president Mahmoud Abbas, along with the PA-Israel security coordination, gave the Israeli occupation a push to shed more Palestinian blood.”
“Such a crime shall not go without punishment,” said Barhoum. “It has to usher in a new phase in armed resistance across the occupied West Bank so as to defend Palestinian children, lands, and holy sites against the crimes perpetrated by the Israeli occupation and its settler gangs.”
23-year-old Maram Salah Abu Ismail, a mother of two kids, and her 16-year-old brother Ibrahim Saleh Taha were shot dead by the Israeli occupation soldiers near the Qalandiya checkpoint, in northern Occupied Jerusalem, on Wednesday morning.
The Israeli police and army tried to come up with various allegations, including the usual claim of “carrying a knife,” and then tried to claim that she “was wearing an explosive belt,” while the only thing she “carried” was her fetus.
The slain woman has been identified as Maram Saleh Abu Ismael, 24, a mother of two children; Sarah, 6, and Remas, 4. Her brother, Ibrahim Taha, only sixteen years of age, was also killed as he was walking with her, heading to Jerusalem, after she obtained for the first time, a permit to enter the city.
In contrary to the Israeli allegation that Maram “carried a knife,” and the second allegation of “carrying an explosive,” eyewitnesses said the two victims walked the wrong route while heading to the Qalandia terminal, as they took the route that is only used for vehicles, instead of the pedestrian path.
The soldiers then started shouting in Hebrew, a language neither Maram nor her brother understood, and the woman just froze from fear before the soldiers started firing at her, and when her brother rushed to rescue her, the soldiers shot him too, and both were left to bleed to death.
The two were tens of meters away from the soldiers, and contrary to military allegations, did not attempt to attack any soldier or officer.
Ahmad Taha, an eyewitness from Jerusalem said that after the soldiers shot the pregnant woman and her brother, they retreated a few meters back, and fired several additional live rounds on them, “confirming the kill.”
“There was no stabbing attempt, and no reason for the army to shoot, the soldiers shot them from a distance, and later fired more rounds to confirm the kill,” Ahmad said, “The soldiers then placed two knives next to the lifeless body of the pregnant woman, and shortly after that, the police published pictures showing three knives!”
Mohammad Ahmad, a bus driver who witnessed the shooting, said an Israeli soldier, who standing behind a large concrete block, shot the woman from a distance of more than twenty meters.
“Neither the woman, nor her brother, posed any threat to the lives of the soldiers,” Ahmad stated, “They were far away from the nearest soldier, and did not pose any threat to them – they just walked the wrong route.”
The slain brother and his sister are from Qotna village, northwest of occupied Jerusalem; Maram is Married and living with her husband and children in Beit Surik nearby village.
It is worth mentioning that a Palestinian ambulance rushed to the scene, but the soldiers closed the entire area, and prevented them from approaching the two Palestinians, who eventually bled to death.
More than an hour after the shooting, Israeli military medics placed the corpses of the two Palestinians in black bags, and took them away.
One day before this fatal shooting, a Palestinian man in his sixty nearly faced the same deadly fate when he walked this same wrong route, but when the soldiers started shouting at him he understood them because he speaks and understand Hebrew very well.
Barhoum slams PA’s silence over Israeli bloodshed
Hamas on Wednesday slammed the world’s silence over Israel’s cold-blooded execution of a Palestinian girl and her brother at the Qalandiya checkpoint earlier in the day.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in a press statement: “The silence maintained by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and its president Mahmoud Abbas, along with the PA-Israel security coordination, gave the Israeli occupation a push to shed more Palestinian blood.”
“Such a crime shall not go without punishment,” said Barhoum. “It has to usher in a new phase in armed resistance across the occupied West Bank so as to defend Palestinian children, lands, and holy sites against the crimes perpetrated by the Israeli occupation and its settler gangs.”
23-year-old Maram Salah Abu Ismail, a mother of two kids, and her 16-year-old brother Ibrahim Saleh Taha were shot dead by the Israeli occupation soldiers near the Qalandiya checkpoint, in northern Occupied Jerusalem, on Wednesday morning.
27 apr 2016
Witnesses to an alleged stab attempt on Israeli border police at a military checkpoint in the occupied West Bank Wednesday said two siblings shot dead during the incident posed no threat at the time the Israeli officer killed them.
Witnesses told Ma’an that 23-year-old Maram Salih Hassan Abu Ismail, five months pregnant, and her 16-year-old brother Ibrahim were en route to Jerusalem when they took a path intended for vehicles, not pedestrians, into Qalandiya checkpoint near Ramallah.
The two were apparently unable to understand Israeli officers yelling in Hebrew, and stopped walking.
Witnesses said it appeared that Ibrahim attempted to grab his sister's hand and move away from the officers, when they opened fire on her. Maram fell to the ground and when Ibrahim attempted to aid her, he was shot in his tracks.
A Palestinian bus driver present at the scene, Muhammad Ahmad, told Ma’an that the Israeli officer who opened fire on Maram was standing behind a cement block some 20 meters away from her at the time. The driver said it did not appear that Maram or her brother posed any threat when the officer shot them.
Palestinian local and witness to the incident Ahmad Taha told Ma’an that Israeli officers approached the two after they had been shot and had fallen to the ground before opening fire on them again “to ensure that they were dead,” adding that the officers “could have moved the two away without opening fire.”
Taha alleged that the officers planted knives on the scene, photographs of which were distributed by Israeli police who said they had been in Maram and Ibrahim’s possession.
The witness accounts collected following the incident contradict Israeli police reports that the officer opened fire after Maram threw a knife in their direction.
Local sources said Maram was the mother of a six and four-year-old, and five months pregnant. She had reportedly obtained a permit from the Israeli authorities to enter Jerusalem for the first time when she was crossing on Wednesday.
Maram and her 16-year-old brother are among over 200 Palestinians to be killed by Israeli forces or settlers since October, the majority during small-scale attacks that have left nearly 30 Israelis dead.
Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip denounced the deaths Wednesday and called for continued resistance against the Israeli occupation.
Daoud Shihab, spokesperson of the Islamic Jihad movement, referred to their deaths as an “execution,” while Fawzi Barhum of Hamas said the move by the Israeli officer to shoot the two was “systematic terrorism” and a “hideous crime that has crossed all red lines,” adding that the “crime would not go without punishment.”
Maram and Ibrahim’s deaths come in the wake of mass criticism towards what has been termed Israel’s policy of “extrajudicial executions” towards Palestinians, which most recently came under spotlight after an Israeli soldier was caught on film shooting a prone Palestinian through the head from point blank range.
Israel's excessive use of force against Palestinians has brought allegations from local and international NGOs, senior UN officials and foreign leaders, and prominent US congressmen that Israeli forces regularly carry out unlawful killings.
Popular Palestinian support for stab attacks -- widely explained by Palestinian and international leadership as a natural response to the effects of the ongoing Israeli military occupation -- has hovered below fifty percent for the past two months, according to polls, coinciding with a relative drop in the frequency of such attacks that initially surged in October.
A reduction in stab attacks has been attributed to security coordination between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, as well as to general public sentiments that the attacks are not effective in resistance against the occupation, according to polls.
Witnesses told Ma’an that 23-year-old Maram Salih Hassan Abu Ismail, five months pregnant, and her 16-year-old brother Ibrahim were en route to Jerusalem when they took a path intended for vehicles, not pedestrians, into Qalandiya checkpoint near Ramallah.
The two were apparently unable to understand Israeli officers yelling in Hebrew, and stopped walking.
Witnesses said it appeared that Ibrahim attempted to grab his sister's hand and move away from the officers, when they opened fire on her. Maram fell to the ground and when Ibrahim attempted to aid her, he was shot in his tracks.
A Palestinian bus driver present at the scene, Muhammad Ahmad, told Ma’an that the Israeli officer who opened fire on Maram was standing behind a cement block some 20 meters away from her at the time. The driver said it did not appear that Maram or her brother posed any threat when the officer shot them.
Palestinian local and witness to the incident Ahmad Taha told Ma’an that Israeli officers approached the two after they had been shot and had fallen to the ground before opening fire on them again “to ensure that they were dead,” adding that the officers “could have moved the two away without opening fire.”
Taha alleged that the officers planted knives on the scene, photographs of which were distributed by Israeli police who said they had been in Maram and Ibrahim’s possession.
The witness accounts collected following the incident contradict Israeli police reports that the officer opened fire after Maram threw a knife in their direction.
Local sources said Maram was the mother of a six and four-year-old, and five months pregnant. She had reportedly obtained a permit from the Israeli authorities to enter Jerusalem for the first time when she was crossing on Wednesday.
Maram and her 16-year-old brother are among over 200 Palestinians to be killed by Israeli forces or settlers since October, the majority during small-scale attacks that have left nearly 30 Israelis dead.
Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip denounced the deaths Wednesday and called for continued resistance against the Israeli occupation.
Daoud Shihab, spokesperson of the Islamic Jihad movement, referred to their deaths as an “execution,” while Fawzi Barhum of Hamas said the move by the Israeli officer to shoot the two was “systematic terrorism” and a “hideous crime that has crossed all red lines,” adding that the “crime would not go without punishment.”
Maram and Ibrahim’s deaths come in the wake of mass criticism towards what has been termed Israel’s policy of “extrajudicial executions” towards Palestinians, which most recently came under spotlight after an Israeli soldier was caught on film shooting a prone Palestinian through the head from point blank range.
Israel's excessive use of force against Palestinians has brought allegations from local and international NGOs, senior UN officials and foreign leaders, and prominent US congressmen that Israeli forces regularly carry out unlawful killings.
Popular Palestinian support for stab attacks -- widely explained by Palestinian and international leadership as a natural response to the effects of the ongoing Israeli military occupation -- has hovered below fifty percent for the past two months, according to polls, coinciding with a relative drop in the frequency of such attacks that initially surged in October.
A reduction in stab attacks has been attributed to security coordination between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, as well as to general public sentiments that the attacks are not effective in resistance against the occupation, according to polls.
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Ibrahim Saleh Taha 16
Maram Salih Hassan Abu Ismail 24 Israeli forces on Wednesday shot and killed a Palestinian woman and child after an alleged stab attempt at Qalandiya military checkpoint near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, police and witnesses said. Israeli police spokesperson Luba al-Samri said two suspects, a young man and a young woman, approached the vehicular path leading through the military checkpoint and walked quickly towards border police officers, the woman carrying a knife in her hand. The spokesperson claimed the officers ordered the suspects to halt before |
opening fire on and injuring the two. An eyewitness told Ma'an that Israeli forces fired more than 15 rounds into the woman’s body and confirmed her death.
Witnesses are heard in video footage of the scene following the incident claiming that a Palestinian boy approached the woman after she was killed before being shot by Israeli forces as well.
Israeli media reports confirmed the child died shortly after.
The Palestinian Red Crescent told Ma’an that Israeli forces denied Palestinian paramedics access to the woman and child for medical treatment.
The woman was identified as 24-year-old Maram Salih Hassan Abu Ismail.
The incident marks the first alleged attack since a Palestinian from Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem carried out a bus bombing in Jerusalem last week, dying later from his wounds and leaving 20 injured.
The attacks come despite an apparent lull in a wave of violence that spread across the occupied Palestinian territory in October, marked by small-scale attacks carried out by Palestinian youth, the majority on Israeli military targets.
The violence has left nearly 30 Israelis and 200 Palestinians dead. According to the UN, investigations into a number of Palestinian deaths since October showed that Israeli forces have in a number of instances implemented a policy of extrajudicial execution, shooting dead Palestinians who did not present imminent threat at the time of their death.
Israeli Soldiers Kill Two Palestinians At The Qalandia Terminal
Israeli soldiers shot and killed, on Wednesday, a young Palestinian woman and a man at the Qalandia terminal, north of occupied Jerusalem. The soldiers fired more than fifteen bullets targeting the woman, and prevented Palestinian medics from approaching the two.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said the slain woman has been identified as Maram Saleh Abu Ismael, 24, from Beit Surik town, north of occupied Jerusalem; she is a mother of two daughters identified as Sarah and Rimas.
The young man remained unidentified until the time of this report; Israeli sources said, so far, there is no known relation between the two.
Eyewitnesses said the soldiers fired a barrage of bullets on the two Palestinians, and left them bleeding on the ground, in addition to preventing Palestinian medics from even approaching them, after declaring the area a closed military zone.
They added that the soldiers fired at least twenty rounds on the two Palestinians from a distance, and did not even approach them.
The Israeli Police said members of the Border Guard Units, opened fire on the Palestinian woman as she “walked towards the roadblock holding a knife in her hand.”
The soldiers later started firing gas bombs and concussion grenades on dozens of Palestinians in the area, in order to force them away.
Israeli media sources said the army has been on high alert allegedly after receiving information about an attack that would be carried out by a “Palestinian with an explosive belt.”
They added that the alleged planned attack could target Israeli soldiers, and medics who rush to the area of the attack, by detonating the explosive belt among them.
According to Israeli daily Haaretz, the two Palestinians “were ordered to stop, but continued to approach soldiers in a drive-through lane, not intended for pedestrians.”
It added that the police said the woman had her hand inside her bag, while the man had his hand behind his back.
Haaretz also said that the two eventually heeded to the demand to stop, and that the soldiers then turned away but the woman “pulled out a knife and threw it at one of the soldiers, before the army and police guards shot the two.”
Witnesses are heard in video footage of the scene following the incident claiming that a Palestinian boy approached the woman after she was killed before being shot by Israeli forces as well.
Israeli media reports confirmed the child died shortly after.
The Palestinian Red Crescent told Ma’an that Israeli forces denied Palestinian paramedics access to the woman and child for medical treatment.
The woman was identified as 24-year-old Maram Salih Hassan Abu Ismail.
The incident marks the first alleged attack since a Palestinian from Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem carried out a bus bombing in Jerusalem last week, dying later from his wounds and leaving 20 injured.
The attacks come despite an apparent lull in a wave of violence that spread across the occupied Palestinian territory in October, marked by small-scale attacks carried out by Palestinian youth, the majority on Israeli military targets.
The violence has left nearly 30 Israelis and 200 Palestinians dead. According to the UN, investigations into a number of Palestinian deaths since October showed that Israeli forces have in a number of instances implemented a policy of extrajudicial execution, shooting dead Palestinians who did not present imminent threat at the time of their death.
Israeli Soldiers Kill Two Palestinians At The Qalandia Terminal
Israeli soldiers shot and killed, on Wednesday, a young Palestinian woman and a man at the Qalandia terminal, north of occupied Jerusalem. The soldiers fired more than fifteen bullets targeting the woman, and prevented Palestinian medics from approaching the two.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said the slain woman has been identified as Maram Saleh Abu Ismael, 24, from Beit Surik town, north of occupied Jerusalem; she is a mother of two daughters identified as Sarah and Rimas.
The young man remained unidentified until the time of this report; Israeli sources said, so far, there is no known relation between the two.
Eyewitnesses said the soldiers fired a barrage of bullets on the two Palestinians, and left them bleeding on the ground, in addition to preventing Palestinian medics from even approaching them, after declaring the area a closed military zone.
They added that the soldiers fired at least twenty rounds on the two Palestinians from a distance, and did not even approach them.
The Israeli Police said members of the Border Guard Units, opened fire on the Palestinian woman as she “walked towards the roadblock holding a knife in her hand.”
The soldiers later started firing gas bombs and concussion grenades on dozens of Palestinians in the area, in order to force them away.
Israeli media sources said the army has been on high alert allegedly after receiving information about an attack that would be carried out by a “Palestinian with an explosive belt.”
They added that the alleged planned attack could target Israeli soldiers, and medics who rush to the area of the attack, by detonating the explosive belt among them.
According to Israeli daily Haaretz, the two Palestinians “were ordered to stop, but continued to approach soldiers in a drive-through lane, not intended for pedestrians.”
It added that the police said the woman had her hand inside her bag, while the man had his hand behind his back.
Haaretz also said that the two eventually heeded to the demand to stop, and that the soldiers then turned away but the woman “pulled out a knife and threw it at one of the soldiers, before the army and police guards shot the two.”
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