Israeli forces reportedly killed one Palestinian near Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank, and injured another Palestinian in Jerusalem’s Shu’fat Refugee Camp on Wednesday January 25.
On Wednesday afternoon Palestinian media outlets reported that a man had been shot and killed on a highway in the Qalqilya district of the northwestern West Bank.
While the Palestinian Ministry of Health had not yet confirmed the killing, or the identity of the deceased, Wafa news agency reported that 20-year-old Aref Abdul Nasser Lahlouh, a resident of the Jenin Refugee Camp, was killed.
The Israeli army claimed that Lahlouh attempted to stab Israeli soldiers, who were stationed at a bus stop near the illegal Israeli settlement of Kedumim. No Israeli soldiers were injured during the alleged attack.
CCTV footage released by the army showed the man, alleged to be Lahlouh, exiting a parked vehicle before running towards the soldiers, who quickly shot him down. The footage does not clearly show if there is a weapon of any kind in his hand, as Israeli forces alleged.
Palestinian media reported that Lahlouh was killed in front of his mother and brother, who were reportedly in the car with him.
The footage released by the army shows Lahlou’s vehicle parked behind two other vehicles, including one Israeli police car. It remains unclear if Lahlouh was part of a traffic stop.
Palestinian news outlet Ma’an reported that following Lahlouh’s killing, Israeli forces arrested the young man’s father at the Jalamah checkpoint near Jenin, as he was on his way home from work inside Israel.
Earlier this week it was revealed that an initial probe into the Israeli army’s killing of Ahmad Kahla, a 45-year-old father who was killed at a checkpoint outside Ramallah earlier this month, that soldiers killed him “unnecessarily.”
At the time he was killed, Israeli forces claimed Kahla tried to stab them, though through video and eyewitness testimony, it was revealed that Kahla was in fact unarmed, and did not attempt to attack the soldiers as was initially claimed.
Teenager killed in Jerusalem refugee camp
Hours after Lahlouh was killed, Palestinian media reported that a 17 year old had succumbed to his wounds sustained during confrontations in the Shu’fat Refugee Camp in occupied East Jerusalem.
Wafa identified him as Mohammad Ali, a resident of the camp. He reportedly succumbed to gunshot wounds to the chest. Ali’s death was confirmed by the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Videos circulating on social media showed Israeli forces patting down and inspecting Ali’s lifeless body as he lay on the ground after he was shot. According to Wafa, Israeli forces reportedly assaulted Palestinian medics as they attempted to evacuate him to the hospital.
Israeli authorities are reportedly withholding Ali’s body. A general strike was declared in the Shuafat refugee camp for three days in response to Ali’s killing.
The teenager was killed during confrontations that erupted between local youth from the camp and Israeli forces, during a large-scale Israeli raid to punitively demolish the home of Udai Tamimi, who was killed by Israeli gunfire in October.
After Tamimi killed an Israeli soldier during a shooting operation at a military checkpoint outside the Shu’fat refugee camp, Israeli forces launched a massive, nearly two-week-long manhunt for him. He was killed on October 19 during a shootout in front of the gates of the mega settlement, Maale Adumim.
Israeli politicians welcomed the punitive demolition, with far-right national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir saying “This step is very important, but not enough at all. We must destroy all terrorists’ homes and deport the terrorists themselves from the country.”
The Israeli policy of punitive home demolitions, which target the families of Palestinians accused of committing attacks against Israelis, has long been condemned by rights groups, who say it amounts to collective punishment.
Though in the past an Israeli military committee has made recommendations that the practice did little to actually deter attacks, the policy has continued to be practiced by successive Israeli governments, with current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu being a vocal advocate for the practice.
“Palestinian media reported that Lahlouh was killed in front of his mother and brother, who were reportedly in the car with him.”
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Something is certainly amiss here. If that was Lahlouh running at the soldiers, he was acting with his emotions, certainly not his head. I wonder what the conversation with his mother was before exiting the driver seat. Was he capable of listening to her? Did she council him? What a waste!