14-year-old Palestinian shot and killed by Israeli forces, says Palestinian well being ministry

Bethlehem, West Financial institution
CNN
 — 

A 14-year-old Palestinian boy was shot and killed by Israeli forces within the West Bank city of Bethlehem late Friday, in line with the Palestinian Ministry of Well being.

The household of the sufferer, Zaid Saeed Ghuneim, mentioned {the teenager} had simply completed dinner and was on his approach to his grandparents’ home when he was shot. His brother, Yazan Ghuneim, advised CNN that his brother was hiding in a storage when Israeli troopers cornered him.

“They put two bullets in his legs, two in his again and one in his neck. They assassinated him,” Ghuneim advised CNN on the household dwelling. “He was my greatest good friend. A beautiful, peaceable boy who wished to assist everybody.”

An eyewitness to the capturing, Um Muhammad Al Wahsh, confirmed CNN a video she took instantly after the incident. Within the footage, there’s blood pooled on the ground of a parking storage and smeared throughout a automotive. In response to Um Muhammad, she noticed Zaid Saeed Ghuneim run into the storage and heard him plead for his life.

“He was screaming and stored saying, ‘I didn’t do something! Don’t shoot me!’” she advised CNN.

In response to the Palestinian Ministry of Well being, Ghuneim was rushed to hospital with bullet wounds in his neck and again. Medical doctors have been unable to maintain him alive.

In an announcement supplied to CNN, the Israeli army mentioned that a number of troopers within the Al-Khader space of Bethlehem have been conducting “routine safety exercise” within the space when “suspects hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails on the troopers, endangering their lives.”

In pursuing the assailants, the troopers responded with reside fireplace, injuring one of many suspects, in line with the Israeli army. The assertion added that troopers supplied preliminary medical therapy on the scene earlier than transferring the injured to the Palestinian Pink Crescent. The incident is now beneath evaluate. The assertion didn’t identify Zaid Saeed Ghuneim.

That is the second killing of a minor by Israeli forces in lower than every week, after a string of raids throughout the West Financial institution. Whereas protecting a kind of raids, Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot and killed by what the Palestinian Lawyer Basic described as a focused assault by Israeli troopers.

Tensions have been steadily escalating throughout Israel and the Palestinian territories. In March, a spate of assaults by Palestinians killed 19 Israelis. In response, the Israeli army launched “Operation Breakwater,” conducting practically each day raids throughout the West Financial institution to arrest suspects. Troopers have since arrested dozens of West Financial institution residents and encountered violent resistance. The Palestinian Ministry of Well being says at the very least 55 Palestinians have died due to Operation Breakwater.

In response to the human rights group B’Tselem, Israeli forces additionally keep an “open fireplace coverage” throughout the West Financial institution, permitting the usage of reside ammunition to reply to even minor safety incidents resembling remoted rock throwing. The coverage has resulted in a number of deaths, B’Tselem mentioned, together with two Palestinian youngsters shot and killed in Bethlehem in February of this 12 months.