Ref: 41/2022

Date: 11 April 2022

Time: 11:15 GMT

Yesterday evening, Israeli occupation forces (IOF) killed 3 Palestinian civilians in excessive use of force, including a child who succumbed to wounds he sustained a day earlier in Jenin; a woman who stabbed an Israeli soldier near al-Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron according to IOF claims; and a civilian who IOF directly targeted in al-Khader village in Bethlehem, under the pretext of throwing stones and Molotov cocktails.

According to investigations conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), at approximately 17:15 on Sunday, 10 April 2022, IOF moved into al-Bayader roundabout in the industrial area, northeast of Jenin, where a military SUV  crashed into the front of a white Mazda car, aiming at arresting the driver, but the latter did not stop and  continued his way towards the industrial area. Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers stepped out of the SUV and opened fire at the car to stop it. As a result, Mohammed Hussain Mohammed ‘Adel Zakarna (17), who was passing in the area by chance, sustained live bullet wounds in his abdomen and was then taken via a private car to al-Razi Hospital in Jenin for treatment. Zakarna underwent a surgery and  was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). At approximately 07:00, on 11 April 2022, medical crews at the hospital declared the death of Zakarna, succumbing to his wounds.

According to PCHR’s investigations and eyewitnesses’ statement regarding the young man killed in Bethlehem, at approximately 23:00 on Sunday, 10 April 2022. OPF moved into al-Khader village in southern Bethlehem, where they raided some houses and topped its roofs. Also, Israeli snipers stationed on the top of houses roofs. An Israeli soldier opened fire at Mohammed ‘Ali Ahmed Ghunaim (21), while present in front of his  house in Abu al-‘Asal neighborhood in Abu Soud Mount area near the annexation wall, which is adjacent to” Jerusalem-Etzion” settlement street, or so-called Street No. 60, south of Bethlehem. As a result, Ghunaim was shot with an explosive live bullet that penetrated his back, and he then fell on the ground. Afterwards, the villagers took him via a private vehicle to al-Yamama Hospital in the village. Few minutes upon his arrival at the hospital, medical crews announced his death.

Later, IOF claimed via a tweet on twitter that during an operation in the area, IOF spotted a suspect who threw Molotov Cocktails at Israeli vehicles traveling on Bypass Road 60 and exposed passengers to danger.  The force opened fire at the suspect and wounded him.

It should be noted that the area, where Ghuneim’s house is located, usually witnesses clashes with the Israeli soldiers.  On 22 February 2022, IOF killed Mohammed Rezeq Salah (14) in a similar shooting.

According to information collected by PCHR’s fieldworker relevant to the murder of a woman in Hebron, at around 17:50 on Sunday, 10 April 2022, Israeli Border Guard Police shot 2 bullets at a Palestinian woman when she was in the closed internal yard of al-Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, directly wounding her.  She fell on the ground and left to bleed until 18:30 without offering her first aid.  Later, IOF posted a photo of the Palestinian woman while lying on the ground with a knife in her hand.  IOF claimed that she stabbed an Israeli soldier and caused him minor wounds.  She was neutralized and her body was kept in IOF’s custody.  The woman was later identified as Maha Kazem ‘Awad al-Za’atari (26) from Hebron, and there were no eyewitnesses to the incident.  Meanwhile, IOF detained the Mosque’s custodian and worshippers, who were around 70 in al-Ibrahimi Mosque, and released at 19:00.

Since the beginning of the year, IOF killed 25 Palestinians, including 6 children and 2 women, in separate incidents in the West Bank; most of them were victims of excessive use of force that accompanied suppression of peaceful protests and gatherings.

PCHR reiterates its call upon the international community to take immediate action to stop the Israeli occupation’s crimes and upon the High Contracting Parties to the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfill their obligations under Article 1; to respect and ensure respect for the Convention in all circumstances and their obligations under Article 146 to prosecute persons alleged to commit grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention, noting that these breaches constitute war crimes under Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons and Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Convention to guarantee Palestinian civilians’ right to protection in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt.)