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Photo:
Bader Samer Ribhi Masri, 19. Published by IMEMC News and Haaretz

Israeli Police Chief Kobi Shabtai at Josephs Tomb in Nablus, overnight into Thursday. Credit: Samaria Regional Council Published by Haaretz

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by IMEMC News
July 20, 2023

On Thursday dawn, Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian and shot three others, two seriously, in the eastern area of Nablus city, in the occupied West Bank’s northern part.

Media sources said many army vehicles invaded Nablus from several directions to accompany several buses filled with illegal Israeli colonizers, heading to Joseph’s Tomb after the army closed many streets and alleys, leading to massive protests.

The source added that military bulldozers also closed Amman Street with sand hills to block Palestinian traffic.

The Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed the death of Bader Samer Ribhi Masri, 19, and said the soldiers shot him in the chest before the medics rushed him to the Al-Arabi Hospital in Nablus.

The Health Ministry added that the soldiers also shot three other Palestinians with live fire, including two who suffered critical injuries, and caused dozens, mostly in their homes, to suffer the effects of tear gas inhalation.

Ahmad Jibril, the head of the Emergency department of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) in Nablus, said a newborn girl, only twelve days of age, was among at least thirty Palestinians who suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation.

Jibril added that the soldiers also fired many rubber-coated steel bullets at a Palestinian ambulance while transporting a patient near the Balata refugee camp, damaging its windshield.
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Palestinian Killed by Israeli Forces After Rare Visit to Josephs Tomb by Police Chief

19-year-old Bader Sami Masri was shot and killed by the Israeli military in the West Bank city of Nablus after Kobi Shabtai became the first Israeli police chief to visit Joseph's Tomb

by Jack Khoury, Hagar Shezaf, Reuters
Published by Haaretz
Jul 20, 2023

A 19-year-old Palestinian was shot and killed overnight into Thursday in clashes that erupted between Israeli troops and Nablus residents when thousands of Jewish worshipers, including Israel's police chief, entered the town to pray at the site of Josephs Tomb.

The deceased, Bader Sami Masri, was shot near the tomb and succumbed to his wounds at a Nablus hospital, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society reported that four other Palestinians were wounded by gunfire and that 30 others suffered from tear gas inhalation, including a baby and a 12-year-old girl.

An Israeli police chief visiting the tomb – which has been an ongoing flash-point for violence between Palestinians and Israeli forces – is extremely rare. Hanamel Dorfman, the chief of staff to National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, was also at the tomb.

According to the IDF, as the group of worshipers were entering the city, “suspects opened fire, threw explosives, burned tires and threw stones at the security forces, who responded using crowd dispersal means and weapon fire.” Pipe bombs were reportedly used against the IDF.

The Nablus battalion of the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad group, said its members were "fighting the occupation forces and groups of settlers who had stormed the area of Joseph's Tomb."

Senior police officials were highly critical of Shabtai for making the visit, saying that it was dangerous and unnecessary. Shabtai arrived to the tomb armed with an M16 rifle, accompanied the entire time by an unusually large number of Israeli troops and a special police force.

At the tomb, Shabtai met with the IDF commander of the Judea and Samaria Division, Avi Bluth, the head of Shomron Regional Council, Yossi Dagan and the parents of an Israeli child missing since 2022.

Police published a statement concerning Shabtai's visit to the tomb and the statements he made there, including photographs of the police chief with the family of the missing child. According to police sources, this is an attempt to frame the visit as having been made for professional purposes.

Over the past year, the vicinity of Joseph’s Tomb has been the scene of clashes between Palestinians and Israeli visitors and the troops protecting them. Several of the visits have been marked by exchanges of weapon fire and Palestinian fatalities, with seven Palestinians killed last year during visits by Israeli worshipers to the tomb.

When such visits are made, the Israeli military imposes a curfew in the vicinity of the tomb without informing the Palestinian residents in advance. The Palestinians learn of the planned visits by monitoring websites associated with Jewish settlers.