Adolescente palestinese: Israele mi ha sparato. Ero ammanettato e bendato

YNETNEWS.COM

Palestinian teen: Israel shot me handcuffed and blindfolded

The boy was evacuated to a Palestinian hospital where he said he was merely present at a funeral adjacent to the stone throwing at IDF forces; father: 'only a sicko shoots a blindfolded boy'

Sintesi personale

Un adolescente palestinese ,ora, ospedalizzato , ha detto che lunedì è stato colpito alle cosce da soldati israeliani dopo aver provato a fuggire . Era ammanettato ,  bendato  e accusato di aver lanciato pietre contro l'IDF ,durante gli scontri vicino alla città di Tekoa, a sud di Betlemme.Osama Hajahjeh, 16 anni, ha dichiarato che l'incidente è iniziato dopo il funerale dell'  insegnante del suo villaggio ,investita  da un'auto guidata da un israeliano mentre camminava in un incrocio trafficato. Dopo la sepoltura  un soldato  è saltato fuori da un uliveto e lo ha spinto a  terra. Le  sue mani sono state ammanettate e gli occhi coperti da una benda di stoffa.

Sentiva  i giovani palestinesi   urlare contro i soldati, mentre i soldati urlavano in arabo ed ebraico.

 "Mi sono confuso. Mi sono alzato e ,Immediatamente, mi hanno sparato alla gamba destra, poi ho provato a correre e mi hanno sparato alla gamba sinistra e sono caduto a terra".Una foto di  un fotografo locale mostra soldati che sembrano inseguire un ragazzo  in fuga con gli occhi coperti e le mani legate dietro la schiena.

Un soldato  ha tolto la cintura dell' adolescente usandola come  laccio emostatico per fermare l'emorragia. Il video amatoriale mostra un soldato mascherato che urla e punta una pistola contro un gruppo di angosciati palestinesi mentre l'adolescente giace a terra. Più tardi, un soldato si azzuffa con i residenti mentre un altro soldato spara in aria. Il padre di Hajahjeh, ha sottolineato di essere contento che  un soldato abbia prestato a suo figlio cure mediche, aggiungendo  che  "Solo una persona ammalata sparerebbe a un ragazzo bendato". Il gruppo israeliano per i diritti umani, B'Tselem, ha evidenziato che l'incidente è l'ultimo  episodio di una serie di  sparatorie ingiustificate su adolescenti e giovani palestinesi. Quattro giovani  palestinesi  sono stati uccisi in Cisgiordania dall'inizio di marzo.

B'Tselem ha dettagliatamente criticato le indagini militari, affermando che raramente si traducono in punizioni e  puntano ,invece, a mascherare  gli abusi da parte delle truppe.

"Come i precedenti quattro casi investigati, questo è un esempio dell'uso sconsiderato di Israele nell'usare il fuoco letale . Le vite umane dei palestinesi contano molto poco agli occhi dell'esercito", ha detto Roy Yellin, portavoce del gruppo .

A hospitalized Palestinian teen said Monday he was shot in his thighs by Israeli soldiers after he tried fleeing while he was handcuffed and blindfolded during clashes near the town of Tekoa, south of Bethlehem, last Thursday.

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The IDF said it was investigating the incident, which it said took place as Palestinian youths were throwing stones at Israeli soldiers.

Teen shot while blindfolded

Osama Hajahjeh, 16, said he was trying to run from soldiers when he was shot. He said the incident began after a funeral for a school teacher in his village of Tekoa, who had been hit by a car driven by an Israeli while walking at a busy intersection.

Osama Hajahjeh at the hospital

Hajahjeh said school was let out early for students to attend the funeral. After the burial, he said he was tackled by a soldier who jumped out of an olive grove and forced him to the ground. He said his hands were cuffed and his eyes covered with a cloth blindfold.

After the arrest, he said he could hear Palestinian youths shouting at the soldiers, while soldiers yelled back in Arabic and Hebrew.

"I got confused" and stood up, he said. "Immediately, I was shot in my right leg. Then I tried to run, and I was shot in my left leg and fell on the ground," he said, speaking from his hospital bed in the West Bank town of Beit Jala south of Jerusalem. Doctors said he is in stable condition.

Attending to his injuries

A photo captured by a local photographer shows soldiers appearing to pursue a fleeing Hajahjeh with his eyes covered and hands tied behind his back.

The shooting set off a chaotic scene. Soldiers and Palestinians shouted at each other as the teen lay on the ground. One soldier took off the teen's belt and used it as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding.

Amateur video shows a masked soldier screaming and pointing a pistol at a group of anguished Palestinians as the teen lies on the ground. Later, a soldier scuffles with residents as another soldier fires into the air. A soldier and two Palestinian men then carry away the teen to medical care.

In a statement, the military said the teen had been arrested after participating in "massive stone throwing" at Israeli forces.

"The detainee was held at a nearby spot and began running away from the force. The soldiers chased him, during which they fired toward his lower abdomen," it said.

The statement did not say anything about him being blindfolded or cuffed, but said the military offered medical treatment after the shooting and was investigating the event.

Hajahjeh's father, Ali, said he was thankful a soldier gave his son medical care. But he said his son never should have been shot to begin with.

IDF medic treats the boy together with a local

"Only a sick person would shoot a blindfolded boy," he said.

The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem said the incident was the latest in a series of what it called unjustified shootings on Palestinian teens and young men. It says four Palestinians in their late teens or early twenties have been killed in the West Bank since early March.

The army has challenged the Palestinian witness accounts, but also frequently announces investigations into disputed cases.

B'Tselem has long criticized military investigations, saying they rarely result in punishments and alleging they're used to whitewash abuses by troops.

"Like the previous four cases we investigated, this is an example of Israel's reckless use of lethal fire, and the fact that the human lives of Palestinians count very little in the eyes of the army," said Roy Yellin, a spokesman for the group.