23-year-old killed by Israeli soldiers near Al-Bireh
Jerusalem24 – 23-year-old Yazan Omar Jamil Al-Khasib was shot and killed by the Israeli forces near the northern entrance to the city of Al-Bireh in the occupied West Bank on Friday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced.
In a statement on its website, the Israeli army claimed that Yazan attempted to carry out a stabbing attack.
“The army force identified a suspect and asked him to identify himself, the suspect pulled out a knife and approached the force who responded with shooting.”
Omar Al-Khasib, Yazan’s father, told Palestine TV that they received a call from the civil administration asking them to come to the Beit Eil office to “talk to the Israeli intelligence”.
“They asked us general questions and told us that Yazan is in the hospital. After they finished the questioning, they said ‘Yazan is dead’,” Omar said. “They didn’t say why they killed him… if Yazan actually attacked them or even gave us evidence of anything that proves the narrative they promoted.”
“Yazan was killed without any justification”
Yazan’s father believes that the Israeli soldiers shot and killed Yazan without any justification, “Yazan was walking in an area that Israeli soldiers don’t usually station in, the youth usually go to walk around in it.”
The Israeli army published a photo of a kitchen knife, claiming it was in Yazan’s possession.
Around 8:10 PM, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said that the civil administration informed of the killing of Yazan.
It is a common practice of the Israeli authorities to withhold the bodies of Palestinians it accuses of perpetrating attacks against its soldiers and settlers, however, at 8:47 PM on Friday, the General Authority of Civil Affairs announced that its crews received the body of Yazan Al-Khasib at the northern entrance to the city of Al-Bireh.
Yazan and his family are residents of Al-Masayef neighborhood in the city of Ramallah, but are originally from Qaffin village in the Tulkarim governorate, where a funeral procession was held for him on Saturday.
Israeli forces and settlers have now shot and killed 88 Palestinians including 17 children in the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem in the first ten weeks of 2023 – more than half the total number of fatalities in 2022, which itself was the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem since the Second Intifada.