06 September 2024

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns in the strongest terms the Israeli Occupying Forces’ (IOF) fatal shooting of an American activist and a Palestinian girl in two separate incidents in Nablus, north of the West Bank. These two crimes once again prove IOF’s highly permissive rules of engagement and shoot-to-kill policy without any justification or imminent threat to the soldiers’ lives. 

According to PCHR’s field documentation, at approximately 13:30 on Friday, 06 September 2024, IOF opened fire and fired teargas canisters at participants preparing for a peaceful protest against settlements following the Friday prayer near Mount Sabih in southern Beita village in Nablus, where Evyatar settlement was established while the Israeli government intending to legalize it. The IOF’s shooting led to the killing of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi (26), an American-Turkish activist, after being shot with a live bullet in her head. 

Paramedic Fayiz Saleh ‘Abed al-Jabbar (43), from Beita village, said to PCHR’s field researcher: 

“For two years, Palestinian worshippers in Beita village have been performing the Friday prayers near the pool close to Mount Sabih, where the “Evyatar” settlement was established to the south of the village, and IOF have announced their intention to legalize it. Activists usually come following Friday prayer to participate in a peaceful protest organized there to show their solidarity and protest the illegal construction of that settlement. At around 11:00 on Friday, two Israeli military SUVs were stationed 100 meters away from where the Friday prayer is usually performed. As an ambulance officer and driver along with 2 volunteers, we performed the Friday prayer in the area. At around 13:30, four Israeli military SUVs advanced towards the worshipers and the Israeli soldiers fired stun grenades and teargas canisters at the worshipers, who started to gather for the peaceful protest.  The soldiers also fired two live bullets; the first hit the foreign activist in her head from a distance of 100 meters so I along with the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS)’s volunteers rushed to carry and put her in the ambulance, while the shrapnel of the second bullet hit a young man, who was treated on the spot. The foreign activist was taken to Beita Emergency Center but was then referred to Rafidia Public Hospital in Nablus, where doctors’ attempts to save her life went to no avail and they declared her death succumbing to her injury.  

IOF claimed that its forces in Beita village opened fire at “a main instigator of violent activity who hurled rocks” at them and posed a threat to them, and that it was looking into reports that a foreign activist was killed as a result of shots fired in the area. The details of the incident and the circumstances in which she was hit are under review. By these claims, IOF prove their highly permissive rules of engagement and shoot-to-kill policy. According to eyewitnesses’ testimonies, the protest was fully peaceful, and there was no danger or threat posed to the soldiers’ lives. Therefore, there was no justification for shooting with the intent to kill.

According to PCHR’s field documentation bout the killing of a Palestinian girl, at approximately 14:00, Israeli settlers, from “Shilo” settlement established on the southern Palestinian-owned lands of Qaryut village, attacked the village’s outskirts. Afterwards, violent clashes erupted between the villagers and settlers, who were carrying flammable materials and trying to set Palestinians’ houses on fire. The settlers attacked Mohammed ‘Abed al-Hameed Mousa (29) by throwing stones at him and beating him with sticks on his face.  As a result, Mohammed was taken to Rafidia Hospital, where he was admitted to the operating room after he sustained severe fractures in his jaw. Minutes later, an Israeli military force arrived and deployed in the area, and some soldiers and snipers topped the high buildings’ roofs. The soldiers secured the settlers’ withdrawal from the village amidst clashes with the villagers. During which, the Israeli soldiers and snipers fired live and rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades, and teargas canisters at the protestors. As a result, Bana Amjad Ahmed al-Boum (13) was shot with a live bullet in her chest while she was looking from her room window on the second floor of her house in the western neighborhood in the village’s center at about 15:30.   Moreover, a 35-year-old man was shot with a live bullet in his shoulder. Both were transported to Rafidia Public Hospital, where Bana’s death was declared, succumbing to her bullet injury in the chest. At 19:00, IOF withdrew from the village and arrested two children after severely beating them. The two children were later released barefoot and handcuffed with zip-plastic ties at As Sawiya Village intersection on Nablus-Ramallah main street.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MOH), the death toll in the West Bank since 07 October has risen to 693, including 159 children and an American activist.

PCHR urges the international community to intervene immediately and take prompt countermeasures to protect the Palestinian civilians and end all forms of genocide and oppression against Palestinians. PCHR warns that the continued inaction and failure by the international community, Third States, and the UN bodies to stop Israel’s systematic violations of international law only fuel IOF to escalate their violence and entrench their settler-colonial project aimed at obliterating the existence of Palestinians.

PCHR calls on the international community and UN bodies to bear their legal and moral responsibilities, take effective action to stop IOF and settlers’ crimes against Palestinians and protect them.