![]() |
Abdel-Rahman,
13, suffered injuries to his head when Israeli forces shot three rubber-coated
metal bullets at his head and torso. (Photo provided by child's family)
|
Ramallah,
September 29, 2016—Israeli forces fired rubber-coated metal
bullets toward a Palestinian boy's upper body and head injuring him during
clashes on September 2 near the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.
Around 7:30 p.m., Abdel-Rahman S., 13, was standing near the
entrance to Al-Jalazun refugee camp when Israeli forces shot him in the back,
head, and abdomen with rubber-coated metal bullets, injuring him. In his sworn
testimony, Abdel-Rahman told Defense for Children International - Palestine
that he was not participating in the clashes taking place at the time between
Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces.
“Israeli forces routinely misuse crowd-control weapons causing
serious and fatal injuries to Palestinian children,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish,
Accountability Program director at DCIP. “While Israeli military and police
guidelines prohibit Israeli forces from firing rubber-coated metal bullets at
children, we regularly document the direct targeting of children by Israeli
forces with these weapons.”
Abdel-Rahman began running after he felt the first rubber-coated
metal bullet hit his back. As he fled, he told DCIP, “I noticed an Israeli army
jeep parked not far away from me. Suddenly the back door opened and a soldier
in green uniform opened fire, and I felt something hitting me hard on the right
side of my head and the right side of my stomach.”
Witnesses nearby helped Abdel-Rahman, whose head was bleeding
profusely, into a car and took him to a hospital in Ramallah. The hospital
administered first aid treatment and then transferred Abdel-Rahman to the
emergency room at Palestine medical complex. An X-ray revealed wounds and
bruises on the side of his head, requiring stitches.
He remained under observation until midnight, when his condition
was deemed stable enough for him to return home.
Rubber-coated metal bullets are comprised of a steel ball
bearing covered with approximately 1-2 mm of hard rubber coating. They are one
of several “less-lethal” crowd-control
weapons used by
Israeli forces to disperse protesters. Other examples include sponge-tipped
bullets, tear gas canisters, water cannons, and sound grenades.
A 2013 report by human rights group
B’Tselem noted that Israeli military regulations — which also apply to Israeli
border police when dispersing protests in the West Bank — prohibit the firing
of rubber-coated bullets at women and children. The regulations further
stipulate that shots be fired from a minimum distance of 50 meters (165 feet),
and never at the upper body.
Since October 2015, DCIP has documented 27 cases where Israeli
forces injured Palestinian children in the upper body with crowd-control
weapons. Of these children, 12 sustained injuries to the head or neck.
Two Palestinian children in the West Bank have died since
October 2015 after Israeli forces fired crowd-control weapons at them. In July
of 2016, 10-year-old Muhyee al-Din
Tabakhi, died after Israeli border police fired a sponge-tipped
bullet at his chest. Ahmad Abdullah
Sharaka, 14, died in October 2015, shortly after Israeli forces
fired a rubber-coated bullet at his head, causing a brain hemorrhage.
A third child, Abdel-Rahman al-Dabagh, 15, died in Gaza on
September 9, after his face was struck by a flare during clashes with Israeli
forces across the border. DCIP is investigating the circumstances surrounding
his death.
Between September 6 and 19, the United Nations Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that Israeli forces
injured 37 Palestinian
children during
clashes in the West Bank and Gaza. The majority of these injuries involved tear
gas inhalation, and the remainder were from rubber-coated metal bullets or live
ammunition.
Source: DCI-Palestine
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Please type your comment, Note that comments are monitored and no Zionists are allowed.