Israeli forces kill teen in West Bank crackdown

Six paramedics, some wearing gas masks, carry a person on a stretcher

Palestinian paramedics evacuate a wounded protester during confrontations near the settlement of Beit El in the central West Bank on 14 December.

Ahmad Arouri APA images

Israeli forces shot and killed a teenager in Jalazone refugee camp as the military cracked down on the Ramallah area of the occupied West Bank after 24 hours of violence in which two soldiers and four Palestinians were killed.

The slain teen was identified as Mahmoud Yousif Nakhla. The health ministry in the West Bank gave his age as 16 but some media reported that he was 18 years old.

Ma’an News Agency, a Palestinian outlet, said that the teen was shot from less than 10 meters away and that soldiers attempted to withhold his body. Palestinian paramedics were only able to recover Nakhla’s body after arguing with soldiers for more than 30 minutes, according to Ma’an.

Compiled video clips from the scene show soldiers dragging and then carrying Nakhla, after which they stand guard around him. The video does not appear to show soldiers providing the teen with first aid.

Nakhla appears to be alive in the final clip in the compiled footage as Palestinian medics put him on a stretcher and load him into an ambulance. Media reported that Nakhla was in critical condition when he arrived to hospital, where he was eventually pronounced dead.

A photo of Nakhla was published by Palestinian outlets after his death was announced:

Jalazone refugee camp

Jalazone refugee camp, in the central West Bank, is located only 200 meters away from the Beit El settlement built by Israel in violation of international law, which prohibits an occupying power from transferring its civilian population to the territory it occupies.

Soldiers guarding the settlement, which is bankrolled by David Friedman, the US ambassador to Israel, regularly harass children in the camp.

Israeli forces guarding Beit El have killed and seriously wounded several Palestinian children from Jalazone camp in recent years.

Last year soldiers in a watchtower next to Beit El fatally wounded Jassim Nakhla, 15, and Muhammad Khattab, 17, when they shot at a car carrying four children that had stalled on the road. It was not clear at time of publication whether Jassim Nakhla was a direct relation of Mahmoud Nakhla.

Two others were reported wounded by live fire during confrontations between Israeli forces and Palestinians near Ramallah on Friday.

A Palestinian boy, 17, was reported to have been moderately wounded after being hit in the face with a rubber-coated steel bullet during confrontations in the northern West Bank on Friday afternoon.

Israeli forces also opened fire at a Palestinian ambulance in al-Bireh, adjacent to Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, on Friday.

Medics were transferring a patient to hospital when Israeli soldiers at Beit El checkpoint opened fire at the ambulance, Ma’an News Agency reported.

Also on Friday an Israeli soldier was reported to have been seriously injured at a military outpost near Beit El after being attacked with a rock and a knife by a Palestinian who fled the scene.

The gunmen who killed two soldiers and injured another two on Thursday also remained at large as the military searched for them for a second day, having arrested more than 100 Palestinians throughout the West Bank on Thursday and before dawn on Friday, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club.

The city of Ramallah was sealed by the military the previous day and remained so on Friday:

Twenty-five Palestinians were injured during confrontations with Israeli forces in al-Bireh, adjacent to Ramallah, on Friday, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society.

Video shows Palestinians confronting Israeli soldiers with slingshots and stones in al-Bireh on Friday:

Palestinian Authority violence

Meanwhile Palestinian Authority security forces brutalized protesters demonstrating against Israeli crimes on Friday, which marked the 31st anniversary of the founding of its rival party Hamas, reportedly injuring five and arresting 15.

Man lying on ground uses one hand to cover his head and raises his other hand, covered in blood, in the air as a woman lies across him as men in military uniform stand beside them

A woman shields a man from Palestinian Authority security forces as they violently dispersed a demonstration in the West Bank city of Nablus on 14 December.

APA images Wisam Hashlamoun

“Security coordination” between Israel and PA forces plays a primary role in suppressing Palestinian resistance to Israel’s military occupation.

Video shows security forces using batons to beat women and men in Hebron:

A man in the video is shown with a head wound as a woman uses her body to prevent his arrest.

The man with the head wound in the above video appears to be Jamil Karama, a former political prisoner. In the below video Karama condemns the forces who beat him by sarcastically thanking them while demonstrating his injuries:

Photos show protesters marching while carrying Hamas flags in Nablus before being forcibly dispersed by Palestinian Authority security forces:
This video is said to show security forces confiscating Hamas flags in Nablus:
Palestinian Authority security forces also deployed in Ramallah to forcibly disperse protests following the killing of Mahmoud Nakhla:
PA security forces were also reported to have arrested journalist Abd al-Karim Museitaf while he was covering the Ramallah protests:
Israeli settlers continued to attack Palestinians on West Bank roads, including this father who reacted with anger and frustration after the vehicle in which he was traveling with his young children was hit with a stone:
The man expressed outrage that his children had no future under occupation and could be killed at any time by Israelis.

A Palestinian mother was fatally injured earlier this year in a similar attack.

A Palestinian bus driver’s eye socket was fractured after he was beaten by settlers using brass knuckles while working near Jerusalem on Thursday night. The man’s brother told media that the driver, who works for an Israeli company, “was attacked in a similar incident last year, but kept working to provide for his family.”

A woman grips her leg while being carried on a stretcher by three paramedics

An injured paramedic is evacuated during protests east of Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on 14 December.

Ashraf Amra APA images

Meanwhile at least 60 protesters were injured by live fire on Friday as Israel continued to use deadly force against Great March of Return demonstrations along Gaza’s eastern boundary.

Seven paramedics and a journalist were reported injured during the protests.

Video shows photojournalist Atiya Darwish being transferred to hospital after being hit in the face with a gas canister while covering protests east of Gaza City:

Nearly 300 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces so far this year.

In Gaza, 175 Palestinians have been killed during Great March of Return demonstrations since their launch on 30 March, “including 34 children, one woman, two journalists, three paramedics, and six persons with disability, including one child with disability,” according to the rights group Al Mezan.

Some 13,000 others have been wounded during the protests, including more than 7,200 by live fire.

Fifteen Israelis have been killed by Palestinians during the year.

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How Israel can get away with imprisoning and abusing a whole population under its military occupation is beyond me! The USA makes such a big deal of how it "protects human rights and dignity" while at the same time giving Israel a green light to attack "human rights and dignity"! The American enablers of Israeli actions are ALL traitors and need to be removed and indicted for war crimes. Iran is a nation that abides by the treaties it signs and also international law. The USA and Israel and their "allies"? The ones sanctioning everyone for alleged crimes are the ones doing the crimes!

Maureen Clare Murphy

Maureen Clare Murphy's picture

Maureen Clare Murphy is senior editor of The Electronic Intifada.