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Photos:
Scene. Published by IMEMC News
Islam Ghayyad Mohammad Zahda. Published by IMEMC News
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by IMEMC News
May 18, 2021

Islam Ghayyad Mohammad Zahda, a 32-year-old Palestinian former political prisoner, was shot to death by Israeli soldiers near the Ibrahimi Mosque in the Old City of Hebron, in the southern West Bank, on Tuesday.

Local sources reported that Israeli soldiers shot him near the old vegetable market in the old city of Hebron.

The Israeli military claimed that Zehda had arrived at the military checkpoint carrying a Carlo weapon and a knife, and he was shot and neutralized.

Israeli Ynet News claimed that the man tried to fire the weapon but was unsuccessful and added that he reportedly also carried explosives before one of them detonated in his hand “but he kept advancing towards the soldiers” before he was shot dead.

Local residents told reporters with the Ma’an News Agency that they heard the sound of an explosion, followed by gunfire, and saw a young man lying on the ground.

Palestinian medics rushed to the scene and tried to reach the young men, but the soldiers closed the area and did not allow them through.

The soldiers also fired live rounds at reporters and residents in the area to force them away.

In a video published on Youtube, an Israeli settler in Hebron is heard shouting in Hebrew while a battalion of soldiers were taking the body of Zahda, covered in plastic, saying “He is garbage – a dog who tried to kill Jews. Just dump him like garbage.”

The Israeli military frequently claims that Palestinians whom they have killed at or near checkpoints “had a weapon” even when later evidence disproves that claim.

Zahda is the fifth Palestinian killed in Hebron in five days. On Monday, Israeli forces killed 17-year-old Obeida Akram Jawabra. On Saturday, troops killed Hussein Atiya at-Teety, 26, on Friday, the soldiers killed Hussein Atiya at-Teety, 26, from the al-Fawwar refugee camp, and on Thursday Ismael Jamal at-Tubasi, 23, was shot with a live round to the head in ar-Reehiyya village, south of the southern West Bank city of Hebron.