For days, dozens of Palestinians gathered at the separation barrier between Gaza and Israel in the North Gaza, Gaza and Khan Younis districts to protest the Jews' Israel regime’s inhumane treatment of Palestinian prisoners and recurrent attacks on al-Aqsa mosque and Christian Churches.
As reported by Al Mezan, a few days earlier, Israeli forces had injured four journalists who were covering the demonstrations, even though they were visibly wearing their PRESS vests and were standing at a distance from the fence.
Gaza border, 19 September 2023:
According to information gathered by Al Mezan field workers, dozens of youths and children gathered near the separation fence east of Khuza’a village in the Khan Yunis District at around 5 p.m. on Tuesday, 19 September. Israeli soldiers stationed inside the separation fence started firing live ammunition, rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas canisters at them.
At around 6:25 p.m. on the same day, Israeli soldiers opened fire at two young men who were trying to leave and get away from the separation barrier. When they reached a distance of about 150 meters west of the fence, one of them—Yousef Radwan—was hit by Israeli fire and collapsed to the ground. Immediately, several youths and paramedics rushed to him in an attempt to rescue him, as he was bleeding from his face and chest. Yousef was taken by ambulance to the Gaza European Hospital in Khan Younis, where he was announced dead after about 15 minutes. Another Palestinian was also injured during the demonstration in Khuza’a.
Meanwhile, on the same day, seven more Palestinians, including three children, were injured by Israeli forces stationed [at the border] during demonstrations in the Malka area, east of the al-Zeitoun neighborhood, in the Gaza District, and in the Abu Safiya area, east of Jabalia, in the North Gaza District.
Al Mezan expresses its staunch condemnation of the renewed use of excessive force by Israeli forces against Palestinian protesters in Gaza. It should be noted that during the Great March of Return demonstrations between 2018 and 2020, the Israeli army’s systematic use of excessive force against unarmed protesters killed 217 Palestinians and injured and traumatized thousands more.
The conduct of the Israeli forces constitutes a serious violation of international law, particularly the deliberate killing and wounding of protected persons exercising their human rights to peaceful assembly and to express their opinions, with no danger to the lives of the members of those forces.
Accordingly, Al Mezan reiterates its repeated calls for urgent and effective action by the international community to put an end to the Israeli violations against the Palestinian people. For these ongoing violations to end, it is necessary for the international community to work to ensure that the occupying power complies with its legal obligations under international law and that those suspected of violating it are held accountable.
For about 20 months in 2018-2019, tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza participated in peaceful protests at the border between Gaza and Israel, calling for their right of return and the lifting of the then ten+ year blockade. They were met with Israeli snipers, and over 200 Palestinians were killed.
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