Second Assailant in Notorious Hebron Shooting Also Executed, Eyewitnesses Say Video
haaretz.com
Eyewitness testimony to the shooting incident in
Hebron about 10 weeks ago, in which Israel Defense Forces soldier Sgt.
Elor Azaria shot and killed an incapacitated Palestinian assailant,
raises suspicion that the second assailant may also have been executed.
The incident occurred in the Hebron neighborhood of Tel Rumeida, when two Palestinians armed with knives stabbed a soldier.
According
to the current version of events, one of the attackers, Ramzi
al-Qasraw, was shot and killed by soldiers on the scene, while the
second assailant, Abed al-Fattah Sharif, was shot and seriously wounded,
before being subsequently executed by Azaria with a shot to the head.
Azaria
is currently on trial in a military court for manslaughter, after video
footage of his action was made public and caused a media storm, both in
Israel and internationally. Filmed by B'Tselem volunteer Imad
Abu-Shamsiyeh, the video begins with al-Qasraw already lying dead on the
ground.
However,
it has recently become possible to gather testimony from the residents
of Tuel Rumeida, B'Tselem said, following the army's lifting of the
strict restrictions imposed on the neighborhood following the incident.
For
the first time since the incident, a B'Tselem researcher, Manal
al-Ja'abari, has visited the neighborhood and take testimonies from its
residents.
According
to the testimonies of two of the residents, Noor Abu Aisha and Amani
Abu Aisha, al-Qasraw was also executed with a bullet to the head while
lying on the ground incapacitated by a body wound.
The
two said that they started observing the goings-on after hearing firing
from the street. They claim to have seen both al-Qasraw and Sharif
lying wounded on the ground and posing no danger to the soldiers.
Even
before additional troops, who included Azaria, arrived on the scene,
they say that they saw a soldier approach al-Qasraw and fire two bullets
at short range into his head or neck.
They subsequently witnessed Azaria's shooting of Sharif, which was also captured on the B'Tselem video.
Amani
Abu Aisha told Haaretz that she lives in a building that overlooks the
scene of the incident and that she came to the window after hearing four
shots.
"I
clearly saw al-Qasraw lying on the ground," she said. "I didn't see any
blood. When he tried to lift his leg, a soldier approached him and shot
two bullets into the upper part of his body, particularly his neck.
Afterwards, there was a lot of blood and he didn't move."
Abu
Aisha stressed that she was able to clearly see that al-Qasraw was
alive and lying on the ground after being shot the first time. She also
saw Azaria shooting Sharif, she said.
Noor
Abu Aisha, Amani's cousin, lives in an adjacent building that also
overlooks the scene of the incident. He told Haaretz that he also saw a
soldier fire at al-Qasraw while he was lying on the ground and moving
slightly.
He provided additional information about the shooting of Sharif that occurred before Azaria shot him in the head.
According
to Noor Abu Aisha, after al-Qasraw was shot the first time, he saw a
soldier chasing Sharif. At a certain point, Sharif stopped and turned
toward the soldier with his arms raised. The soldier then shot him and
he fell to the ground. That was before he was shot in the head by
Azaria.
B'Tselem
said both Noor Abu Aisha and Amani Abu Aisha had been informed that it
is likely the IDF has full video footage of the incident from military
security cameras at the site, which would make it very easy to
contradict their evidence if it were not true.
Both witnesses stuck to their versions of the events and said that they would be prepared to testify before any official body.
Testimonies: Prior to the killing incident in Hebron for which the Israeli soldier Elor Azaria is facing charges, Ramzi al-Qasrawi was also executed.
On 24 March 2016, ‘Abd al-Fatah a-Sharif and Ramzi al-Qasrawi were killed by soldiers’ gunfire in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood in Hebron. They were shot after they stabbed a soldier who, according to media reports, sustained light injuries. The incident was widely covered by the media thanks to video footage shot by B’Tselem volunteer ‘Imad Abu Shamsiyeh, in which a soldier can be seen executing the injured a-Sharif, shooting him in the head. The shooter, Elor Azaria, is currently on trial for manslaughter for his actions.
The footage of the incident that B’Tselem released in March began at a point in time in which the second assailant, Ramzi al-Qasrawi was already dead. Testimonies of two of residents raise concerns that al-Qasrawi was also executed with a shot to the head, as he lay injured on the ground after having been hit by gunfire elsewhere in his body.
The Israeli military probably had footage of the entire incident on it security cameras located in the area, and that this footage could corroborate or disprove their accounts.
Video: One of the video segments filmed by Nur Abu ‘Eishah
Amani Abu ‘Eishah’s video footage.
Read more: http://www.btselem.org
Commenti
Posta un commento