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Photo:
Muhammed Tamimi in the hospital, on Friday. Credit: Hagar Shezaf Published by Haaretz

Muhmaaed Tamimi, age 2. Posted on Twitter by JALAL
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via Twitter

Defense for Children
@DCIPalestine

Two-year-old Mohammad Haitham Ibrahim Tamimi died around 2 pm today after Israeli forces shot him in the head with live ammunition on June 1 in Nabi Saleh, northwest of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. He is the 20th Palestinian child shot and killed by Israeli forces in 2023.

Jalal
@JalalAK_jojo
6/5/2023

Mohammad Al-Tamimi, 2.5 years old, the latest victim of Israel's onslaught on the Palestinian people.

Mohammad was shot in the head by Israeli soldiers stationed at the entrance of Nabi Saleh. He was shot in his father's vehicle outside his home.

Condolences to Al-Tamimi family
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Palestinian Toddler Hit by Israeli Army Fire Dies of Wounds

by Hagar Shezaf for Haaretz
June 5, 2023
2:27 pm IDT

Muhammad Tamimi, a two-and-a-half-year-old child who was wounded by IDF gunfire last week in the village of Nabi Salih in the West Bank, died of his wounds on Monday.

In a statement, the Tamimi family said Muhammed died "as result of the crimes of the occupation," and confirmed that his funeral procession will leave Ramallah on route to Nabi Salih on Tuesday morning.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued on Monday a statement of condemnation following the death, stating "Israel's responsibility for the killing of 28 Palestinian children since the beginning of the year." The statement also called for an international investigation, and for the International Court of Justice to take steps against Israel.

In their statement, the PA office also called the Israeli investigation of the case as "irrelevant as its only goal is to whitewash, lie and protect the political and military ranks in the occupation state."

The Israeli military acknowledged the incident, in which Muhammad and his father Haytam were shot, and wrote in a statement that “we regret the injury to noncombatants, and we work to prevent such incidents. The incident will be investigated.” The investigation is still underway.

According to the Israeli military, Haytam Tamimi and his son Muhammad were injured near the Israeli settlement of Neveh Tzuf, just north of Ramallah, when armed militants opened fire at the settlement and Israeli soldiers returned fire.

The father and son were brought to the entrance to the settlement for emergency medical treatment. The toddler, who was shot in the head, was evacuated in a military helicopter to Tel Hashomer Hospital in Ramat Gan.

The IDF statement added that, “according to our initial investigation, two terrorists opened fire for several minutes at the [settlement], an IDF force identified the source of the shooting and returned fire. It seems that, as a result of this, our forces hit two Palestinians.”

According to a still-incomplete military investigation of the incident, it occurred at about 8 P.M. on Thursday in the West Bank village of Nabi Salih. A soldier at a post beneath a pillbox was the one who shot at the father and son. According to that soldier, he opened fire after mistakenly identifying the car as the one from which gunshots were fired at him. The military said that another Palestinian had shot toward the pillbox for about 10 minutes, but they did not identify the source of the fire.

Speaking to Arabic media, the father said that he had been at the entrance to his home with his son. “We didn’t know that the army was operating [in the village]. We were about to go out – me, my son and my cousin – in my car. A bullet hit the car and us.” He added that they did not see what happened or who had fired at them.

Several other residents of Nabi Salih who spoke to Haaretz corroborated Haytam's account, saying that they did not hear any shots fired from the area of the family's home.

Mohammed's mother, Marwa, 31, spoke to Haaretz while outside her son's hospital room, where he is fighting for his life. "Me, my husband and my son wanted to go visit family members. I was still inside the house, and my husband and son entered the car. Just as he turned the engine on he was shot," she says.

Haytam was shot in the shoulder and hit in the chest by shrapnel. He underwent surgery in a Ramallah hospital and is currently in a medically induced coma.

"This was like an execution." she added. "I want to file a complaint and for him and my son to be compensated. My husband is a man of peace, always at work or with the children."

The Tamimi home is located about 300 meters (nearly 1,000 feet) from the military pillbox at the entrance of the village, but Tamimi believes that the soldiers were closer to them. She said that soldiers will often hide by the house's gate, about 50 meters (164 feet) from the home itself. Over the years, she said, the house's windows have been broken by live fire and stun grenades have been thrown into their yard. The military denied the claim that the shots were fired from the family's gate.
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‘Hamoudi’s gone’: Palestinian village reels after Israeli soldiers kill toddler

After denying responsibility, the IDF admitted its forces shot two-year-old Mohammed Tamimi — the latest Nabi Saleh resident to be killed with impunity.

by Oren Ziv for 972Mag
June 7, 2023

“I heard shooting, I went out and saw that my husband’s whole shirt was covered in blood. He didn’t notice that he was wounded because he was focused on Hamoudi, who had been shot in the head. When I saw him, I said: ‘Hamoudi’s gone.’”

These were the words of Marwa Tamimi, the mother of 2-year-old Mohammed Tamimi, nicknamed Hamoudi, who was fatally wounded last Thursday by Israeli sniper fire while he was in the car with his father, Haitham, at the entrance to their family home in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh. The toddler died from his wounds on Monday, and on Tuesday hundreds took part in his funeral. According to the human rights group B’Tselem, Tamimi is the 150th Palestinian to have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers since the start of this year.

Immediately after the shooting, Israeli military sources claimed that the boy and his father were hit by Palestinian gunfire aimed at a nearby army guard tower. Shortly after, however, the IDF Spokesperson admitted that the two were hit by shots fired by Israeli soldiers, who were allegedly responding to shooting at the guard tower. After this admission, the army stated that it “regrets harming those not involved and works to prevent incidents of this type,” and that it was a case of “misidentification” after “two terrorists fired for several minutes in the direction of the Neve Tzuf [Halamish] settlement.”

The residents of Nabi Saleh rejected the army’s version of events, with eyewitnesses telling +972 that the shooting at the Tamimi family was not preceded by any shooting from Palestinians.

Even after the IDF admitted that its soldiers had shot at the Tamimis, Israeli media outlets attempted to minimize the army’s responsibility for the toddler’s killing. Ynet wrote that Tamimi “was mistakenly shot by IDF forces who responded to terrorist fire,” while Walla reported on the death of “the toddler who was apparently hit by IDF gunfire.”

Palestinians participate in the funeral of two-year-old Muhammad Tamimi in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, who died four days after he was shot in the head by Israeli soldiers near the entrance to his home in Nabi Saleh, West Bank, June 6, 2023. (Oren Ziv)
Palestinians participate in the funeral of two-year-old Muhammad Tamimi in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, who died four days after he was shot in the head by Israeli soldiers near the entrance to his home in Nabi Saleh, West Bank, June 6, 2023. (Oren Ziv)
Mohammed’s body was brought from the hospital in Ramallah to the family’s home in Nabi Saleh on Tuesday morning, and the funeral procession began from there to the village’s mosque and cemetery. “I demand justice,” said a tearful Marwa. “Human rights and children’s rights organizations must deal with this case. The crime of killing Palestinian children must be stopped. We will go all the way to the International Court of Justice.”

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Continuing reading full article in English at 972Mag News Source Link

A version of this article was first published in Hebrew on Local Call. Read it here.