Israeli troops shoot medic’s feet during raid

Maureen Clare Murphy Rights and Accountability 25 July 2023

Israeli military armored vehicles during a raid on Askar refugee camp, near the West Bank city of Nablus, 24 July.

Mohammed Nasser APA images

Israeli forces attacked medics during separate raids on two Palestinian refugee camps in the occupied West Bank early Monday.

Troops shot a medic with the Palestine Red Crescent Society “with two bullets in both feet” while he was on duty in Askar camp near Nablus, the group said.

In Nur Shams camp, in Tulkarm, occupation forces prevented the Red Crescent society’s ambulances from entering the camp.

Troops also prevented an ambulance crew from transporting a woman in labor in Nur Shams camp and “detained the team for half an hour and ordered them to take off their bulletproof vests and clothes,” the Red Crescent said.

Just last week, medics with the Palestine Red Crescent Society were provided with bulletproof vests and helmets after nearly 200 violations against their teams were recorded in the first half of 2023.

“This includes physical assaults, targeting with live ammunition and other weapons by Israeli forces, and repeated obstruction while trying to reach and transport the wounded,” said Medical Aid for Palestinians, the UK charity that provided the protective clothing.

More than 100 paramedics were injured while on duty last year, according to the charity.

In 2019, an independent UN commission of inquiry stated that the West Bank and Gaza Strip, where Israel has targeted and killed on-duty paramedics, “is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a health worker.”

In addition to the medic who was shot in the feet, a Palestinian was shot in the knee with live ammunition during the raid in Askar camp, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.

Explosions

In Nur Shams, four Palestinians were injured by live fire, WAFA reported. Nine others were wounded by shrapnel, potentially as a result of a series of large improvised bombs that were detonated as military bulldozers entered the camp.

Troops raided the camp’s mosques and dozens of homes.

Videos show powerful blasts in the camp that the Israeli military and Palestinian outlets said were caused by explosive devices planted in the streets, a new tactic recently used in Jenin:

Several roads, buildings and other infrastructure were destroyed or damaged by Israeli military bulldozers:
The Israeli military said troops “detained 17 wanted Palestinians, seized weapons and neutralized explosive devices during raids across the West Bank overnight,” The Times of Israel reported.

The Tel Aviv daily Haaretz said that in Nur Shams, Israeli troops “were met with considerable gunfire and explosives that were thrown at them.”

Palestinians in Nur Shams rallied in support for the armed resistance after the Israeli military raid on Monday:

Palestinians also confronted raiding troops with gunfire in Aqbat Jabr camp near Jericho early Monday, according to Israeli media.

Meanwhile, a bus carrying Israelis in the West Bank town of Huwwara was struck by several bullets late Monday, causing no injuries.

Huwwara has been a flashpoint of violence. In February, the town was stormed by settlers who set fire to vehicles and homes. A Palestinian man was killed by troops during the rampage.

Nearly 200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops, police and settlers since the beginning of the year, with the majority of fatalities occurring in the West Bank. That figure also includes Palestinians who died from injuries sustained during previous years.

West Bank teens killed

On Thursday, 19-year-old Badr al-Masri was shot and killed amid confrontations that erupted during an Israeli raid that included police chief Kobi Shabtai at Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus.

Two more Palestinian teens were shot and killed the following day.

Muhammad Fuad Atta al-Bayed, 16, was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier in Umm Safa, near Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

Defense for Children International-Palestine said that the boy had joined a weekly protest against settlement expansion.

“Umm Safa is surrounded by Jewish-only Israeli settlements encroaching on Palestinian land,” the rights group stated.

“Its residents hold a weekly demonstration after Friday prayer to protest the expansion of Israeli settlements.”

Another Palestinian, 24-year-old Abd al-Jawad Hamadan Saleh, was shot in the chest and killed in Umm Safa earlier in the month during a settler attack on the village.

Also on Friday, Israeli troops shot and killed 18-year-old Fawzi Hani Makhalfeh near Sebastiya, in the northern West Bank, claiming that the teen attempted to attack soldiers with his car.

The teen’s family disputed Israel’s narrative of events and said that the car in which Makhalfeh was traveling was ambushed by troops.

Al Jazeera, citing local media, reported that “shortly before the fatal shooting, Makhalfeh had just passed his high school exams and was in good spirits.”

Tags

Maureen Clare Murphy

Maureen Clare Murphy's picture

Maureen Clare Murphy is senior editor of The Electronic Intifada.