SEVEN-YEAR-OLD BOY KILLED BY ISRAELI SOLDIERS. Eye Witness Accounts

[Balata Refuge Camp, Nablus] - Saturday morning an
Israeli soldier firing from inside a military jeep
shot dead seven year old Khaled Maher Walweel. When
shot, Khaled was in his home near a 2nd story window.
The bullet pierced the window hitting the boy in the
neck. In the street below two military jeeps were
making their way out of the camp under a barrage of
stones.

Moments later the boy’s uncle was seen carrying a
severely bleeding Khaled into the street, where he
first held the boy up at the window of an army jeep
and then walked towards a waiting ambulance. As the
uncle walked towards the ambulance, approximately 20
meters away, one of the jeeps attempted to cut him
off. The uncle was pinned momentarily between a
shopfront and the jeep. As the ambulance approached,
it too was blocked.

One jeep maneuvered behind the ambulance while the
first jeep moved to block the ambulance's front.
Khaled was able to be slipped inside the ambulance,
but the two jeeps in the narrow street blocked the
ambulance from leaving the scene. Soldiers clearly
were intent on blocking any movement by the ambulance.
As the ambulance driver attempted to move around the
jeeps, the jeeps themselves moved so as to continue
blocking the ambulance’s departure.

Eventually the ambulance, with the assistance of the
surrounding crowd, was able to maneuver from between
the jeeps. Paramedical workers with the Union of
Palestinian Medical Relief Committees performed CPR
during transport to Rafidia Hospital in Nablus but the
boy was pronounced dead upon arrival.

Earlier that morning the same two military jeeps were
present at the northern entrance to the camp, before
driving around the camp to its southern entrance.
There the jeeps waited for approximately half an hour.
During this time they were pelted by stones and began
firing tear gas and concussion grenades into the
groups of boys throwing stones.

At approximately 10:00 am, the two jeeps moved into
the center of the camp firing live bullets into the
crowded streets and into the air. Three more jeeps
soon arrived at the same entrance. Local camp
residents reported that a group of Israeli soldiers
had occupied a home in the center of the camp during
the previous night along with two other houses near
Jerusalem Street on the camp's western edge. The two
jeeps were presumably in the camp to evacuate the
central group of soldiers. After several minutes at
least four soldiers were seen leaving a house and
entering the back of one of the jeeps. Shortly
afterwards, the barrage of indiscriminate shooting
from the two jeeps into the camp intensified and
Khaled was killed. No armed Palestinian fighters were
present in the area during the incident.

The occupation of homes, the killing of children, and
the blockage of emergency vehicles while in
performance of their duties all constitute grave
breaches of International Human Rights Law. The
Israeli military’s attempt to block an ambulance
carrying a dying child is particularly disturbing.

For further information please contact these
eyewitnesses:

English Language
Marcus +972 (0) 67496805
Judah +972 (0) 52351534

Arabic Language
Omar +972 (0) 52362199

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