Ref: 09/2023
Date: 20 January 2023
Time: 09:00 GMT
Two Palestinians were killed, including a civilian, and 3 others were injured, including one in critical condition at dawn on Thursday, after Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) opened fire at them during their incursion into Jenin refugee camp, western Jenin, north of the West Bank. These killings come as part of IOF’s ongoing assassination policy and unjustified killing due to the lenient shooting standards and the protection given to soldiers by the political and military echelons in Israel.
According to investigations conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), at around 02:30 on Thursday, 19 January 2023, IOF descended into Jenin refugee camp and their snipers topped the roofs of high buildings around the camp, tightening the cordon off the area. Meanwhile, clashes broke out between members of the Palestinian armed groups and IOF at the camp’s square. At around 03:10, one of the armed group members was injured under a house belonging to Jawad Farid Hussein Bawaqneh (57), a teacher and father of 6. Jawad and his family heard the injured person screaming for an ambulance, so Jawad and members of his family went out on the street and his daughter, ‘Alaa (34), approached to pull the injured to their house gate, which is only 3 meters away, but she could not. When her father went to help her, one of the snipers positioned on a building around 300 meters away to the east opened fire at him. As a result, Jawad was injured with several bullets in the chest and fell on the person injured, who was later identified as Adham Mohammed Basem Jabarin (27), both residing the camp. His family then tried to pull him, but they could not due to IOF’s intensive shooting at them that continued for 3 minutes. Afterwards, Jawad’s family managed to pull him, who was covered with blood, and put him in their car. His daughter, Alaa’, alone drove him to Bin Sinai Hospital while Adham was left in the scene, believing that he succumbed to his injury. When Jawad arrived at the hospital, doctors announced his death after being shot with 3 bullets in the chest from the two sides. Later, Adham was taken by a civilian car to the same hospital, where doctors pronounced his death as well after being shot with several bullets in the abdomen. Subsequently, violent clashes broke out in the camp that injured 3 Palestinians in the abdomen, thigh and shoulder: injury of one of them was deemed serious. Before their withdrawal, IOF arrested 5 Palestinians, but released them later after interrogating them at Salem Camp.
Since the beginning of 2023, IOF’s attacks in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem have killed 17 Palestinians, including 8 civilians: 3 of them were children, and the rest were members of the Palestinian armed groups, including a child, and a young man killed by an Israeli settler allegedly for carrying out a stabbing attack; meanwhile, dozens were injured.
PCHR reiterates its call upon the international community to take immediate action to end Israeli occupation’s crimes and double standards when it comes to international law. PCHR urges the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention fulfil their obligations as per Common Article 1 of the Convention, “undertake to respect and to ensure respect for the present Convention in all circumstances,” and their obligations under Article 146 of the same Conventions, i.e., to hold accountable persons accused of committing grave breaches of the Convention.
