RAMALLAH: The Israeli army killed four Palestinians in Nablus, West Bank, on Thursday, three of them in a military operation inside the old city and the fourth, a young woman, at the Huwara crossing south of the city.
The killings bring the total number of Palestinians killed by Israelis this year to 108, including 20 children and one woman.
Muath Al-Masri, Ibrahim Jabr, and Hassan Qatanani were identified as the victims. They were killed during a house raid.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, two bodies were found terribly deformed as a result of the ferocity of Israeli fire.
A general strike was called to condemn the Israeli bombing, with thousands attending the victims’ funeral on Thursday afternoon.
The Israeli army accused two of the three young men of killing three Israeli settlers in the Jordan Valley a few weeks ago.
The fourth victim, Iman Odeh, 26, was slain in Hawara by a bullet to the chest fired by Israeli soldiers. The army alleged she attempted a stabbing attack.
According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, Israeli soldiers obstructed ambulance staff from saving her life.
During a meeting with an EU delegation, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh urged the EU to put pressure on Israel to stop killing Palestinians.
According to Shawan Jabarin, the chairman of the Al-Haq human rights organization in Ramallah, the three men might have been arrested if Israeli authorities had wanted to.
He called the Israeli army’s actions a “extrajudicial execution” and a “war crime.”
“When the Israeli army targets specific people for killing whose identities are known, this is considered extrajudicial execution, which is a war crime,” Jabarin said.
The Israeli policy in this regard is clear, he noted, because the personnel that attacked the residence had the purpose to murder rather than make arrests.
Jabarin stated that his organization was developing a full study on Palestinian extrajudicial executions, which will be submitted to the International Criminal Court soon.
He described the situation as “painful” because there was still no local, regional, or international authority examining Israeli violations and extrajudicial executions of Palestinians, “which allows the murderous soldiers and their leaders to escape unpunished.”
Source: Arab News
