Israeli agents conducted raid against militants in civilian area, killing a child
Traffic was barely moving on March 16 in central Jenin, an unusually busy Thursday afternoon in the West Bank. With the holy month of Ramadan approaching, restaurants were full and shoppers were running from shop to shop among the carts.
A father pushes a stroller past a silver palanquin. Inside the car, Israeli secret agents were on the spot, waiting to take action against two Palestinian militants running nearby. Omar Awadeen, age 14, pedals his bicycle, just completing his last chore of the day.
Moments later, four plainclothes security forces chased the militants from another silver sedan nearby and opened fire.
Such scenes are becoming increasingly common in the West Bank, where more than 3 million Palestinians live under Israeli military occupation. A new generation of militants has become prominent. Israel says such raids are critical to disrupting terrorist networks and protecting its citizens from attacks. Palestinian officials say these are war crimes that should be referred to the International Criminal Court.
Israeli military operations have long been a part of life here, but they once took place mostly at night, and usually ended in panic. This year, under the most right-wing government in Israeli history, an increasing number of daylight incursions have been carried out in densely populated urban areas such as Jenin. As of May 15, 108 Palestinians, including militants and civilians, were killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Killed by the Israeli army According to the United Nations, more than double last year’s toll from the same period. There were at least 19. Children – including Omar, who was shot dead during a raid in Jenin.
The Washington Post has synchronized 15 videos and reviewed dozens more since March 16, including CCTV footage from nearby businesses, some of which took about a month to surface. felt The Post also spoke to nine witnesses and obtained testimonies from four others for a 3D reconstruction of the raid.
The analysis yielded three main findings:
- The Israeli army killed Omar. Israeli officials have not publicly commented on his death.
- Omar was among at least 16 civilians in the area as officers charged down the street with AR-style rifles and a handgun, firing more than 20 rounds and killing both militants, neither of whom was armed. It was not visible. Israeli officials in an initial statement called the militants “armed suspects” but did not provide any evidence to support their claim.
- One of the militants was shot multiple times by Israeli forces after he became incapacitated – an apparent extrajudicial execution that experts say may have violated Israeli law.
A 3D reconstruction of the post shows civilians in the streets being fired upon by Israeli officers.
The raid also violates an international ban on extrajudicial killings, experts told The Post. said, arguing that the illegality was enhanced by the fact that the militants posed no immediate threat to the presence of many civilians.
The raid was carried out by Yamam, an elite unit of Israel’s border police that focuses on counter-terrorism operations, including raids in urban areas.
Israeli police spokesman Dan Elsden said security forces were in the area “to apprehend terrorists responsible for attacks on IDF soldiers, bomb preparation and other terrorist activities.”
In response to initial questions about Omar, Israeli police said in an email to The Post that “the subject of your inquiry actively participated in a violent riot, endangering the lives of soldiers.” It’s unclear what riot he was referring to, but visual evidence reviewed by The Post showed no such riot before the shooting.
Police declined to review the Post’s evidence or answer follow-up questions.
Previously unreported files from the recently classified US document repository. Online leak The Discord messaging platform highlights growing U.S. concerns about Israeli incursions into the West Bank — including one February 22 Raid in Nablus where Israeli soldiers opened fire on a group of civilians — threatening international efforts to reduce violence in the region.
A Confidential Assessment a March 7 raid warned in Jenin that this would almost certainly prompt Palestinian militants to retaliate.
attack
Omar spent March 16 delivering packages to his father’s medical supply shop. Around 3:10 p.m., he dropped off his last package at a nearby pharmacy, CCTV footage obtained by The Post shows.
The eldest and only boy of three children in the family, Omar was unusually kind, his mother recalled, always trying to include other children who did not have the same advantages. He liked to have fun and go swimming or hiking on his days off.
After leaving the shop, he cycled past his father, who was driving in the opposite direction. Her father Mohammad Awadeen said, “We met by chance. “He asked for 10 shekels to buy some clothes, but there was a police officer behind me so I couldn’t stop.”
As Omar returned to his father’s shop, the raid began.
Just a few feet away, two Palestinian militants — 28-year-old Nidal Khazim and 29-year-old Yusuf Sharim — were walking along the road. Khazeem and Sharim passed another silver sedan, now stopped in traffic, where Yamam’s agents were waiting.
Then at least three shots were fired from behind the two men. Khazim was struck and fell to the ground.
Editor’s Note: This video contains graphic content.
Four members of the Israeli security forces appeared one after the other in street clothes. According to video reviewed by the Post, two men later shot Khazim in the body.
The Post identified at least 16 civilians, including Omar, in the immediate area when officers opened fire.
According to multiple videos synced by The Post, a CCTV camera caught Shreem running, slipping and falling to the floor in a group of three civilians at the same moment. (CCTV timestamp is incorrect.)
A third CCTV camera shows the moment Omar is shot and falls off his bike.
After at least two Israeli officers pointed their weapons at Sharim, a bullet hit Omar in the back. It is not clear which Israeli officer fired the fatal shot.
Shreem found his balance and continued to run, the video shows. As he turned a corner, another barrage of bullets followed. The video shows Israeli forces firing at least five times after they first hit him. His body was visibly tingling from the extra fire.
The officers then retreated to their vehicle. Two — one with a handgun, the other with a rifle — approached Khazim’s body and shot him in the head.
The post has blacked out parts of the video due to its graphic nature.
About 25 yards away, Omar lay on his side and rolled onto his stomach.
“I went to Omar and asked him what the problem was,” said Abdullah Abhra, owner of a cosmetics shop on the block. “He said, ‘I fell.’ I asked him if he was killed? He said ‘no’. We had a conversation.”
Abraha recalled that there was no blood around Omar. But then his face started turning yellow and the area around his eyes turned blue. “I was holding his hands and they felt cold as ice,” Abraha said.
Abraha and another man turned him over and saw that he had been shot in the back. When they tried to help him, one of the cars carrying the Israeli forces drove away.
Abraha said that due to the traffic and the chaos after the raid, no ambulance could reach the spot, so these men loaded Umar in a car and took him to the hospital. According to the hospital report, he was dead when he arrived.
‘Extremely Unlawful’ Killings
The Post shared its findings with five experts on international law, all of whom said the deadly raid violated the ban on extrajudicial killings.
“One can say with confidence that these are extrajudicial executions,” said Philip Alston, who was the UN special representative on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions between 2004 and 2010, of evidence provided by The Post. After review.
According to Michael Link, who until last year served as the UN Special Representative for Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories, these particular killings were “grossly illegal” by international standards. He added that illegality “has increased due to the apparent choice to carry out these targeted killings in a busy urban market.”
Israeli law gives its forces a great deal of latitude during counterterrorism operations — even when, as in this instance, the apparent targets were apparently unarmed and there was no exchange of fire.
Michael Isfard, a human rights lawyer who has challenged the legality of targeted killings in Israel’s Supreme Court, described the Jenin raid as “very typical of how Israel conducts its acts of lethal force.”
The basic rule, said Ronnie Paley, a lawyer with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, “is that you only fire if you’re in danger.” But the question of what constitutes a threat is vague under Israeli law – deliberately so, rights groups claim.
A 2006 ruling by the Israeli Supreme Court set a broad definition of when alleged militants can be targeted, legalizing attacks on individuals security forces believe to be militants. Have links to groups, even if they are not a direct threat during operations. .
Khazeim was a member of the Islamic Jihad militant group, while Sharim belonged to the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, making him a legitimate target under Israeli law.
But Israeli and international law agree on one key point: Once a person is no longer a threat, they cannot be targeted with deadly force. Israeli legal experts said it was likely illegal to shoot Khazim in the head while he was active. 2017 case When an Israeli court sentenced an army doctor to 18 months in prison for shooting dead a wounded and unarmed Palestinian assailant in Hebron.
The judge ruled, Dr. Alvar Azaria “acted as both judge and executioner. On appeal Azaria’s sentence was reduced to 14 months and he was released after nine, which the far right He was hailed as a hero by wing politicians.
Among those who supported his cause. Itamar Ben Gvir, was a radical settler leader and anti-Arab activist. Israel’s national security minister, Ben Gower, now oversees the border police, including Yamam.
Israeli police spokesman Elsdon declined to say whether the investigation was into the actions of Israeli security forces during the raid in general or the shooting of Khazim specifically. He told The Post that security forces were “operating in life-threatening conditions to nab the terrorists.”
But none of the people targeted in the raid “appeared to present a threat, let alone an imminent threat, and [both] could have been arrested,” Link noted. The “failure” to arrest those men, Alston said, “then led to additional fatal shots being fired after two men were declared harmless.”
Umar died after being hit by these bullets. He made a video call to his mother around 11 a.m. She recalled: “He was just sitting behind his father’s desk. I’m proud to say how responsible he is.”
Four hours later he left.
Osama Hassan in Jenin and Kate Brown in Washington contributed to this report.