On 18 September 2018, Israeli police shot a Palestinian man in East Jerusalem. The event occurred near Damascus Gate in the Musrara neighborhood on Yom Kippur, a Jewish holy fast day. A police spokesman identified the man killed as a 26-year-old Palestinian from Qalandia and stated his presence was illegal because Palestinians are banned in Jerusalem on Jewish High Holy Days.
According to the Israeli police, the “assailant” tried to stab a Jewish worshiper and ran “towards the policemen while brandishing a sharp object in his hand intending to harm them.” However, witnesses told Wafa, a local Palestinian media agency, that the man was unarmed. Witnesses claimed he had gotten into an argument with an Israeli man but attempted to flee after Israeli forces intervened. According to Al Jazeera, the body of the deceased was being held by the Israeli army.
On the same day, Israeli forces opened fire on a group of protesters in northern Gaza. The Palestinian health ministry reported that two protesters were killed and 46 others were injured. The demonstration occurred near Erez, an Israeli checkpoint crossing known as the Beit Hanoun crossing by Palestinians. The National High Committee to Break the Siege organized the protest in response to the United States’ decision to pull funding from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), according to Al Jazeera.
A doctor from Gaza’s Indonesian Hospital said that the two men killed were both struck by live ammunition. The men were identified as Mohammad Abu Naji, 34, and Ahmad Mohammad Omar, 20, by the Gaza health ministry. Palestinian health officials report that since 30 March 2018, at least 181 Palestinians have been killed during Palestinian protests occurring weekly at the Gaza-Israel border.
To know more, please read:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-violence-jerusale/israeli-police-shoot-suspected-attacker-in-jerusalem-idUSKCN1LY342
by Cecilia D'Arville
Editing by Shrabya Ghimire
