• Live
    • Audio Only
  • google plus
  • facebook
  • twitter
News > World

Israeli Troops Kill Palestinian, Drag His Body With Bulldozer

  • Israeli troops killed a Palestinian and injured two others who were trying to pull out the body.

    Israeli troops killed a Palestinian and injured two others who were trying to pull out the body. | Photo: Reuters

Published 23 February 2020
Opinion

The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel called for a criminal investigation and cited international laws that could characterize the incident as a "war crime."

Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian man near the border, east of the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip, and severely injured two others who were trying to pull out the body, local media reported Sunday. 

RELATED: 

Breaking with Washington: Arabs and Muslims Must Take a United Stance for Palestine

The two wounded men were rushed to a hospital for treatment, a paramedic of the Palestinian Red Crescent told the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Israeli forces said they opened fire on the Palestinian man because they suspected him of trying to place a bomb near the fence that separates Gaza from Israel.

The army said in a statement it "spotted two terrorists approaching the security fence in the southern Gaza Strip and placing an explosive device adjacent to it."

"The troops opened fire towards them. A hit was identified," it stated.

An Israeli bulldozer was later seen on a video widely shared on social media, moving ​​​​​​ the body of the Palestinian man in a brutal manner to the Israeli side of the fence. The footage, which sparked outrage among Palestinians and others on social media, shows the vehicle dragging the body along by his clothes.

The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel (Adala) has called for a criminal investigation into the incident. 

The center sent a letter to Israeli Chief Military Advocate General Sharon Afek citing international laws that could characterize the incident as a "war crime." Adala said the action also violates laws in the Jewish state as Israel’s Supreme Court recognized in past rulings that harm to the dignity of the deceased is a violation of the country’s law. 

A spokesman for Hamas Hazem Qassem told Al Jazeera that the incident is just one instance of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian lands and its treatment of Palestinians.

"There are hundreds of similar crimes that haven't been documented by the camera. Israeli occupation continues its crime without any legal or ethical deterrence," Qassem said.

The deceased man, Mohammed Ali al-Naim, 27, was a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) faction, according to the latter.

Twenty rockets were fired towards Israel later on Sunday by Palestinian factions, in response to his killing, according to local media. No casualties were reported.

"The targeting of one of our own in the Gaza Strip in a brutal way is blatant aggression and the enemy must bear the consequences," a spokesman for the al-Quds Brigades, the PIJ's armed wing, said on Twitter. 

Israeli army said, also in a Twitter post, that 10 rockets were intercepted by its Iron Dome missile defense system.

Tensions between Palestine and Israel increased since last month when United States President Donald Trump unveiled his plan for resolving the decades-long conflict. The deal was categorically rejected by Palestinians who - both in the West Bank and in Gaza - said it was "a gift" to Israel.

Comment
0
Comments
Post with no comments.