Surveillance Video Shows IDF Soldiers Assassinating Two Innocent Palestinian Children

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaibEqx2m_k

Israeli forces killed two Palestinian teens during clashes near Ofer military prison in the West Bank city of Beitunia on May 15.

Nadeem Siam Nawara, 17, sustained a fatal gunshot wound to the chest. Mohammad Mahmoud Odeh, 16, sustained a fatal gunshot wound to the back. Both boys were transferred to the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah where they were pronounced dead.

"The images captured on video show unlawful killings where neither child presented a direct and immediate threat to life at the time of their shooting," said Rifat Kassis, executive director of DCI-Palestine. "These acts by Israeli soldiers may amount to war crimes, and the Israeli authorities must conduct serious, impartial, and thorough investigations to hold the perpetrators accountable for their crimes."

The boys were participating in a demonstration near Ofer military prison to mark Nakba Day and express solidarity with hunger striking prisoners currently held in administrative detention by Israel. The demonstration reportedly began peacefully and then turned violent when Israeli forces clashed with Palestinian youth.

The deaths on Thursday raise the number of Palestinian children killed by Israeli forces in 2014 to four, according to data collected by DCI-Palestine. Over 1,400 Palestinian children have been killed as a result of Israeli military and settler presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 2000.

The Israeli military's own regulations dictate that live ammunition must be used "only under circumstances of real mortal danger," but the regulations are not enforced and frequently ignored by Israeli soldiers, according to research by DCI-Palestine.

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A shocking video released this week by Defense for Children Palestine (DCI-Palestine) shows two Palestinian children being gunned down by IDF soldiers while walking near the site of a May 15 Nakba Day protest outside Israel’s Ofer Prison in the West Bank.

IDF officials originally claimed that the two young men were throwing stones and firebombs and that Israeli soldiers had fired no live bullets. “They [IDF soldiers] used nonviolent means to try and disperse the crowds,” IDF spokeswoman Libby Weiss told The New York Times.

DCI-Palestine’s video, however, reveals that the IDF’s version of events is an outright lie. The video footage clearly shows that Mohammad Mahmoud Odeh Salameh, 16, and Nadeem Siam Nawara, 17, were not holding any rocks or weapons, nor were they showing any aggression or posing any security threat when IDF soldiers shot them assassination-style.

The disturbing video shows one of the young men peacefully walking down the street with a backpack on his back when he suddenly collapses as a result of a fatal gunshot wound to the chest. The other young man is walking in the vicinity of tear gas when he falls to the ground after being shot in the back.

Tragically, the May 15 incident is representative of Israel’s inhumane treatment of Palestinian children. Israeli authorities routinely arrest and torture Palestinian children. Indeed, DCI-Palestine reported earlier this month that an increasing number of Palestinian children are forced to endure solitary confinement after being arrested by IDF soldiers. According to the group, 21.4 percent of Palestinian children report undergoing solitary confinement as part of the interrogation process.

We must let our elected officials know that we will not accept Americans’ tax dollars being used to support an Israeli military that harasses and kills innocent children. Contact your representatives today and tell them how you feel.

For more information on the 1,652 children—Palestinian and Israeli—killed since 2000, seewww.RememberTheseChildren.org.

Read “As Pawns of the Occupation, Palestinian Children Face Regular Abuse and Torture,” By Dale Sprusansky in the June/July 2014 issue of the Washington Report.

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