West Bank23 August, 20262 min read
Israeli Forces Kill Two Palestinians During Family Dispute In Silwan, East Jerusalem
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Three Palestinians killed in Silwan family dispute, two by police fire. Police intervened in a violent family confrontation; investigation opened into suspected murder.
7 outlets told this the same way.
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Silwan clash turns deadly
In East Jerusalem’s Silwan, located south of the Old City and south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Israeli forces used excessive force during their intervention in a family dispute and killed two Palestinians, according to the Jerusalem Governorate of the Palestinian Authority. The governorate said the deaths were of Ahmed Khalil Abbas al-Awar and Khail Abbas Khail al-Awar, who “fell martyr to the occupation’s bullets,” after being shot during the storming of the town of Silwan.
“Israeli police kill two Palestinians during a family clash in East Jerusalem.”
It added that preventing reform men and town dignitaries from intervening “contributed to further complicating the scene,” while more than five citizens were injured during the events. In parallel, Ash-Sharq al-Awsaṭ said Israeli police killed two Palestinians during the same family clash in Silwan, after police intervened and an investigation was opened into a suspected homicide.
Police fire and competing narratives
Israeli police said their forces “dealt with a violent dispute that broke out between families” in Silwan, after the brawl escalated following the death of one of the injured, and that an investigation had been opened into suspected murder.
The police statement said “The forces opened fire toward them to neutralize the danger, which led to their death at the scene,” after they spotted two suspects carrying knives and Molotov cocktails.
But activist Hussein al-Zeir in Silwan said things were moving toward calm before the police intervened, asking, “Why did the police shoot them in the head directly? Why didn’t they neutralize them by shooting at the limbs?”
Haaretz framed a separate West Bank incident by noting that the IDF and police were disclaiming responsibility for Friday’s shooting death of 17-year-old Palestinian Karim Sanad Raja Shalaldeh near the West Bank village of Sa'ir, north of Hebron, after settlers entered Area B.
West Bank tensions and stakes
In the Jordan Valley, Israeli police announced a person was injured by a stabbing near the Al-Auja village, and the Israeli army set up roadblocks around Al-Auja and surrounding areas while searches continued. Al-Jazeera Arabiyya said the incident came two days after Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Qatar, and Egypt announced their firm condemnation of Israel’s continued illegal settlement policies in the Palestinian territories occupied, including rejection of the E1 settlement plan east of East Jerusalem.
It reported that ministers warned the E1 plan constitutes a “serious escalation” that would push forward settlement expansion and annexation and undermine geographical contiguity between the West Bank and East Jerusalem, threatening the possibility of realizing an independent, geographically connected, and viable Palestinian state on the 1967 lines. Okaz added that for the fifteenth consecutive day, Jewish settlers continued to besiege three Palestinian homes in Qusra, south of Nablus, while it also cited Palestinian fears tied to Israel Katz’s plan to transfer authority within Israeli settlements from the army to the police.