Israeli forces killed nine Palestinians during the month of February, bringing the total number of Palestinians slain this year to 16. Four of the Palestinians killed in February were slain during search and arrest operations.
Ahmad Samir Mahmoud Abu Ubeid, 18, was shot in the head while confronting soldiers during a raid in pursuit of Ahmad Nasser Jarrar in the northern West Bank village of Burqin on 3 February.
Also on 6 February, Israeli forces shot Khalid Walid al-Tayeh in the chest, killing him, during confrontations that erupted when soldiers raided the West Bank city of Nablus to surround a house belonging to the father of a Palestinian suspected by Israel of fatally stabbing a settler a day earlier.
Yasin Omar al-Saradih, 35, was shot in the stomach by Israeli forces during an arrest raid in the West Bank city of Jericho on 22 February. Soldiers were seen on video beating al-Saradih after he was shot and leaving him to lie on the ground for at least 10 minutes without providing him with first aid.
The Palestinian rights group Al-Haq stated that the slaying may amount to a war crime, “giving rise to individual criminal responsibility at the International Criminal Court.”
Five Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces during search and arrest operations so far this year, compared to nine in 2017, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Israeli forces conducted more than 450 search and arrest operations in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, during the month.
A sixth Palestinian in the West Bank was killed during February. Hamzeh Youssif Zamaareh, 19, was shot and killed by a security guard after allegedly stabbing another guard at the Karmei Tzur settlement on 7 February.
Source: ei
