Israel shooting of Palestinian woman extrajudicial execution: Amnesty

Amnesty International has censured the recent killing of a young Palestinian woman by the Tel Aviv regime's troops in the occupied West Bank, and described it as an illegal execution.

In a detailed public statement released on Friday, the rights group called the shooting death of the 18-year-old Hadil Salah Hashlamoun an “extrajudicial execution,” a prohibited act that constitutes crimes under international law.

The incident occurred on Tuesday morning at a checkpoint in al-Khalil (Hebron). A video published by PalMedia shows Israeli forces and settlers standing around, smiling and laughing in some cases, while the young woman bleeds to death.

The Israeli regime accuses the victim of having a knife and posing a threat to the soldiers guarding the checkpoint, but the four-page statement -- based on interviews with two eyewitnesses -- refuted the claim.

“This account of events is contradicted by statements made by the two eyewitnesses interviewed by Amnesty International and photographs of the incident show Hashlamoun standing still,” adding that “even if Hashlamoun did have a knife, Israeli soldiers, who are protected with body armor and heavily equipped with advanced weapons, could have controlled the situation and arrested her without threatening her life”.

According to the report, Israeli soldiers warned her to “go back” in Hebrew, a language she did not understand. They also firmly rejected one of the witnesses’ offers to mediate between the two sides and translate the warning for her. The soldiers then shot her in the right knee and left heel before firing multiple times in her abdomen and chest.

The soldiers denied her any medical help, left her to bleed in the scene, and did not put her into an ambulance for 30 or 40 minutes after they had shot her. She finally died of multiple organ failures as a result of several gunshot wounds in a hospital in the Israeli-occupied Old City of al-Quds (Jerusalem).

The Israeli military claims that it has opened an investigation into the killing, but Amnesty’s statement says that “such internal investigations have consistently failed to identify those responsible for previous unlawful killings or to hold anyone accountable.”

The shocking death of Hashlamoun came hours after Israeli forces killed a young Palestinian man identified as Diyaa Abdulhalim Talahmah in the same area. The 21-year-old was killed during an overnight raid on the village of Khursa.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk