Ref: 153/2014
Date: 12 November 2014
Time: 12:20 GMT
In a new crime of excessive use of force, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian civilian in al-‘Aroub refugee camp, north of Hebron. They fired one bullet at him from a roof they were on while dozens of Palestinian boys were peacefully demonstrating at the camp’s entrance. The victim was standing behind a window on the second floor of his family’s house, which overlooks the camp from the western side.
According to PCHR’s investigations and eyewitnesses’ testimonies, at approximately 08:00 on Tuesday, 11 November 2014, a number of Palestinian boys gathered at the entrance of al-‘Aroub refugee camp, north of Hebron, to organize a demonstration commemorating the tenth anniversary of the death of President Yaser ‘Arafat. Israeli vehicles arrived at the area and the soldiers deployed at the entrance of the camp, which leads to bypass road (60). The boys threw stones at the Israeli soldiers who in response fired sound bombs, tear canisters and rubber-coated metal bullets at them. As a result, Mohammed ‘Emad Ahmed Jawabrah (19) was hit by a rubber-coated metal bullet to his foot and he left to his house. The clashes continued between the demonstrators and Israeli soldiers, and five soldiers stationed on the roof of a house belonging to Hisham al-Sharif at the camp’s entrance. Jawabrah was standing behind a window on the second floor of his family’s house, which overlooks the camp’s entrance. He was with his cousin, ‘Essam (24), a laboratory doctor, and a 17-year-old child. While they were looking through the window, Jawabrah suddenly screamed and fell onto the ground after the sound of a bullet was heard. The other two persons lay on the floor and took Jawabrah to the ground floor, where his family lives. At approximately 11:45, his cousin tried to revive his heart and did him artificial respiration as he was spastic. He was then taken by a car to an ambulance which was waiting at the entrance of Beit Ummar village after ‘Essam called its staff. Jawabrah was then taken to al-Mizan Hospital in Hebron, and immediately entered into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) to revive his heart and lungs. However, the doctors declared his death 15 minutes later and told his family that he died upon arrival at the hospital. The medical sources stated that the death was due to a bullet that penetrated his right side under the chest and got out from the middle of the back causing laceration in the internal parts and severe bleeding that lead to death.
PCHR is strongly concerned over this crime, which further proves the use of excessive force by Israeli forces against the Palestinian civilians in disregard for their lives. Therefore, PCHR calls upon the international community to take immediate and effective actions to put an end to such crimes and reiterates its call for the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 to fulfill their obligations under Article 1; i.e., to respect and to ensure respect for the Convention in all circumstances, and their obligation under Article 146 to prosecute persons alleged to commit grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention. These grave breaches constitute war crimes under Article 147 of the same Convention and Protocol I Additional to the Geneva Conventions.
