Description

Photo:
Ahmad Hasan Abdul-Jalil Kahala, 45. Published by IMEMC News

Ahmad and Qusai Kahalah. Photo courtesy of the family. Published by B'Tselem

AHMADI KAHALAH. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE FAMILY
Publshed by B'Tselem

THE YABRUD OVERPASS. PHOTO BY IYAD HADAD, B'TSELEM, 16 JANUARY 2023

QUSAI KAHALAH. PHOTO BY IYAD HADAD, B'TSELEM

Also see video at IMEMC News Source link
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by IMEMC News
Jan 15, 2023

On Sunday, Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian man at the western entrance of Silwad town, east of Ramallah, in the central West Bank.

Eyewitnesses said the soldiers installed a sudden military roadblock at the entrance of the town before stopping and searching cars.

They added that the soldiers forced a driver, Ahmad Hasan Abdul-Jalil Kahala, 45, out of his car and started assaulting him after a verbal argument ensued.

The eyewitnesses stated that one of the soldiers assaulting the Palestinian shot him from point-blank range.

Palestinian medics rushed to the scene, but the soldiers stopped them, obstructed their efforts to provide him with life-saving first aid, and eventually allowed them to take him away.

The medics rushed Ahmad to Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah, but he succumbed to his serious wounds.

“Ahmad had no vital signs when we reached him,” Aahed Smerat, one of the medics at the scene, said, “His son called for help, but when we arrived there, the soldiers stopped us and told us the man was under arrest, and later allowed us to take him away.”

The slain man’s sister, Ehman Kahala, said her brother and his son, Qussai, 18, were heading to work at a construction site when the soldiers stopped them at a military roadblock.

“They were assaulting my brother before an argument, and a brief scuffle broke out, and then they [the soldiers] just executed him….” She added.

His sister added that the slain man is a married father of five; two boys and three girls, and one of his daughters will graduate from high school this year.

The Israeli army alleged that the Palestinian “got out of his car, approached the soldiers and attacked them with a knife, in an area where Palestinian protesters were throwing stones at the army.”

Dr. Laila Ghannam, the Governor of Ramallah and Al-Biereh, said Ahmad’s execution is yet another Israeli crime against the Palestinian people and called on the International Community to act instead of shielding Israel from international prosecution for its ongoing war crimes.

Palestinian Prime Minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, denounced Ahmad’s killing and said, “the criminals are ongoing with their crimes and violations of International law with impunity,” and called for international protection for the Palestinian people.

Ahmad is the thirteenth Palestinian, including three children, to be killed by Israeli soldiers in the first fifteen days of this year, 2023.

On Saturday dawn, Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinians, Ezzeddin Bassem Hamamra, 24, and Amjad Adnan Khaliliyya, 23, near the main entrance of Jaba’ town, south of Jenin, in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.

Also Saturday dawn, Palestinian medical sources at Iben Sina Hospital in Jenin, in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, confirmed the death of Yazan Samer Ja’bari, 19, whom the soldiers shot earlier this month near Jenin.

Yazan was shot on January 2nd when the army invaded the town and detonated the home of two slain Palestinians, Ahmad Ayman ‘Aabed, 23, and Abdul-Rahman Hani ‘Aabed, 22.

The invasion led to massive protests before the soldiers fatally shot Mohammad Samer Houshiyya, 21, from Al-Yamoun, and Fuad Mahmoud Ahmad ‘Aabed, 18, from Kafr Dan, and injured many others, some seriously.

In 2022, the Israeli army killed 224 Palestinians, including 59 from Jenin, in the northern West Bank.
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The Israeli military lied: Ahmad Kahalah was shot and killed for no reason on his way to work

by B'Tselem (The Israeli Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories)
Feb 8, 2023

On Sunday, 15 January 2023, four soldiers set up a checkpoint underneath the Yabrud overpass, which lies north of Ramallah on the road that runs between the towns of Yabrud and Silwad. Local residents, who are accustomed to checkpoints occasionally being set up at the spot, waited in their cars. At around 8:30 A.M., when the soldiers took a long time to search one of the cars, the drivers began honking their horns to protest the delay. In response, one of the soldiers hurled a stun grenade that hit Ahmad Kahalah’s car and then rolled down to the ground, where it exploded loudly. Kahalah (45), a father of four from the village of Rammun, was on his way to work with his son Qusai (19).

Ahmad and Qusai Kahalah. Photo courtesy of the family
AHMAD AND QUSAI KAHALAH. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE FAMILY
Kahalah shouted at the soldiers, demanding to know why they had hurled the grenade, and then three of them approached him. Two of the soldiers sprayed Qusai in the face with pepper spray and pulled him out of the car. They took him to the other side of the underpass, where they made him sit down. Qusai’s eyes were stinging from the pepper spray and he could not see anything. The soldiers tried to make Ahmad sit on the ground and when he refused, beat him and tried to force him down while he tried to push them off. In video footage captured by one of the driver from inside his car and posted to social media, a single shot is heard, apparently hitting no one. Immediately after that, one of the soldiers fires another shot that hits Ahmad Kahalah in the neck, killing him.

The soldiers instantly ordered all the drivers waiting at the checkpoint to leave. Ahmad Kahalah was taken to hospital by ambulance, with no signs of life. It was only then that one of the soldiers told Qusai his father had been killed, and ordered him to walk back home.

As in similar past cases, the military was quick to state mere hours after the incident that Kahalah had been shot while trying to grab a firearm from a soldier. Unlike in the past, a week later, on 23 January 2023, the media reported this was not true and there had been no attempt to seize a firearm. Instead, the brigade commander’s inquest revealed that the soldiers had shot Kahalah without justification and that “the incident was not supposed to end with a man dead.” The military said an MPIU investigation had been launched.

Be that as it may, experience shows that these investigations are part of a whitewashing mechanism rather than a genuine attempt to uncover the truth. Their main purpose is to allow Israel to continue claiming it investigates human rights violations against Palestinians while ensuring that, aside from very rare instances, no one is held to account. This policy enables the violence that sustains the apartheid regime to continue unabated and has been implemented for years, regardless of which government is in power.

B’Tselem’s investigation found that soldiers shot an innocent man in the neck, in broad daylight, in front of other motorists and mere meters from his son, who was begging for help. These actions demonstrate that soldiers serving in the Occupied Territories are aware of their blanket immunity and, above all, attest to the apartheid regime’s incomprehensible disregard for the lives of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.


B’Tselem field researcher Iyad Hadad collected testimonies from eyewitnesses.

Maher Hadid (39), a resident of Yabrud who was driving towards Silwad, recounted on 17 January 2023:

On Sunday, 15 January 2023, I drove towards Silwad. I got to the Yabrud underpass at 8:30 A.M. There was a checkpoint with four soldiers standing there. One of the soldiers was standing off to one side, and the other three were checking one of the cars. They were taking a very long time to check the passengers’ ID cards. There were traffic jams on both sides. There was one car ahead of me before the checkpoint.

After about 10 minutes, the drivers on the other side started honking to protest the wait and the traffic jam it was causing. The soldiers shouted at them, and one of them threw a stun grenade that hit a black jeep and then fell to the ground and exploded. I was about 25 meters away from them. The driver of the jeep shouted at the soldier, who then went over to the jeep. The other two soldiers went to the passenger’s side. I later found out the passenger was the driver’s son. It looked like they pepper sprayed the son in the face. They took him out and detained him in a corner of the underpass. He was calling out for help, probably because his eyes were stinging from the spray.

I couldn’t clearly see whether the soldiers got the driver out or he got out by himself. Then they pushed him out of the underpass, towards us. His son was on the other side of the road and still shouting because his eyes were stinging. I heard his father groaning in pain, too. He was about 10 to 15 meters away from me. The soldiers pushed him with their hands and rifles and tried to make him sit on the ground, but he refused and tried to push them away. He wasn’t holding anything or trying to hit the soldiers back.

Suddenly, during the scuffle, one of the soldiers fired a bullet. I think it hit the father in the neck, because he put his hand to the right side of his neck. Then he took two steps back and fell down. I couldn’t see him anymore because of the car in front of me. The soldiers left the victim and went over to his son. They moved him over to our side, right across from his father.

After the shooting, everything went silent. Everyone was shocked by what happened. No one reacted. For a few seconds, all I could hear was the victim’s moaning and the sounds of him dying, which grew fainter until he fell silent. I saw a thin trail of blood flowing for several meters, like water spilled from a bucket. I was so horrified, I started reciting the Shahadatein. The crime took place before my very eyes. The soldiers started telling the drivers on both sides to leave, including the car they were in the middle of checking. They gave the passengers their ID cards back and ordered them to drive away. As I was making a U-turn, I saw more military jeeps arriving. I went home and didn’t go to work that day. I was in shock. I told my wife what happened. Soldiers do carry out violent acts every day. What happened to that man could have happened to me or to any other Palestinian. They killed him in cold blood.

Adham Ahmad (33), a married father of two from Silwad, said in his testimony on 16 January 2023:

On Sunday, 15 January 2023, at 8:30 in the morning, my wife and I drove to work in the Ramallah area. We got to the Yabrud bridge, under which soldiers often set up a checkpoint and inspect cars, which is what happened that morning. There were four cars ahead of me. I think there were three soldiers there. About 10 minutes after we got there, the drivers in front of me started honking their horns to protest the long wait. The whole line of cars joined in eventually. One of the soldiers threw a stun grenade at us, and it hit one of the cars ahead of me, I think a black jeep. The grenade hit the car and then fell to the ground and exploded loudly.

Then I heard shouting, I don’t know who it was exactly. I couldn’t see the person sitting next to the driver, but I did see the soldier pushing the driver to the other side of the bridge, towards Yabrud. Then two other soldiers joined him. They tried to get the driver to sit on the ground, but he resisted. I saw one of the soldiers push the driver with his rifle and hit him with the barrel and with his hand. The soldier was wearing a mask that only showed his eyes and nose.

We were about 20 meters away from the driver, and I saw him trying to push one of the soldiers away from him. There was a lot of shouting. The soldiers got very stressed, and I felt the situation was dangerous. I saw the driver move away the hand of the soldier, who was aiming a rifle at his torso, and then the soldier fired. I couldn’t see the driver anymore, and I didn’t know what part of his body was hit, but I could hear him moaning in pain. It only lasted a few seconds, and then there was silence. There were no protests or reactions. It was very quiet. My wife and I were shocked.

Two minutes after the shooting, at 8:40 A.M., I called the Red Crescent and they told me they’d already received a call about the wounded man. I saw another military jeep coming from the direction of Silwad, behind me. It stopped under the bridge and I saw a soldier unload a stretcher. One of the soldiers told us to get out. I obeyed right away and drove to Ramallah.

On the way, I heard on the radio that the Hebrew media said there had been a stabbing attempt. I was shocked. It happened right in front of my eyes. There was no stabbing. It was an execution. The man didn’t threaten the soldiers at all.

Qusai Kahalah (19) recounted the killing of his father on 16 January 2023:

Qusai Kahalah. Photo by Iyad Hadad, B'Tselem
QUSAI KAHALAH. PHOTO BY IYAD HADAD, B'TSELEM
When my father and I got to the Yabrud bridge, we saw a military checkpoint. The soldiers were stopping traffic in both directions. We were the third car in line. There were three soldiers next to the first car in our lane. After a few minutes, one of the drivers waiting in the other direction came over to us and said he was looking for a jack. My father got out of the car to look for our jack, and then he went over to help the driver change a tire. I stayed in the car. My father came back a few minutes later.

A little after 8:30 A.M., the drivers started honking their horns to protest the long wait. A soldier came over to us and threw a stun grenade that landed on the roof of our car and then rolled down to the ground and exploded. Dad shouted from the window: Why are you doing that? And why next to the car?! Two soldiers came over to me, and a third went over to my father. One of them sprayed pepper spray in my face, and some of it flew in my father’s direction. My eyes stung and I couldn’t see anything. My father shouted at them. The two soldiers pulled me out of the car, took me aside and made me sit on the ground.

I heard my father yelling at them and the soldiers yelling back at him. Everything hurt and I didn’t know what was going on. I still couldn’t see anything. Then I heard one shot. There may have been others I didn’t notice. All at once, the shouting stopped. I remember asking for water, but the soldiers didn’t give me any.

After a few minutes of silence, I heard an ambulance and then shouting. I called out to the paramedics to give me first aid, but the soldiers refused to let them come near me and I heard the ambulance leave. The soldiers picked me up and pushed me somewhere else. Later, I realized I was under the bridge. One of the soldiers asked me who the man in the car with me was, and I told him he was my father. I asked him how he was. At that point, I managed to open my eyes. The soldier immediately answered: Your father’s dead. I was shocked. I beat my head, cried and shouted. The soldier moved away from me.

I didn’t see any Palestinian cars in the area. A few minutes later, the soldier came back and told me to leave on foot. I asked to take my things out of the car, and he let me. He handed me my father’s ID card, his phone and some banknotes from a compartment. Two soldiers led me several dozen meters towards Silwad, and then told me to leave.

One of the people driving along the road pulled over for me and drove me to al-Amal Medical Center in Silwad, where they gave me oxygen. I stayed there for about half an hour, until some of my relatives came and took me to our village, Rammun. It wasn’t until I got there that I learned for a fact my father had been martyred. The house was full of angry and sad people. A lot of people came over.

At noon, we said goodbye to my father. I feel like life has lost all meaning. I don’t know how I can go on without him. He was everything to us – a father, brother and friend. I’m still in shock. I can’t believe my dad is really gone. It happened right in front of me. It was so hard and painful. He was a man who worked hard to provide for the whole family, and it was important to him to make sure we had a good future. He dreamed of us being able to attend university and wanted to build us apartments to live in after we got married. My father was a peaceful man. He had good relationships with the whole family and with everyone in the village. His death was painful for everyone. The bullets of a hateful soldier took him from us.