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Motaz Faraj Ibedo, pictured in June 2012, was shot and critically injured
by Israeli forces in Hebron on April 11. (MaanImages)

HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces on Thursday shot and injured a disabled Palestinian man in the southern West Bank city of Hebron in an act the Israeli army described as defensive.

Motaz Faraj Ibedo, who was already confined to a wheelchair after a shooting two years earlier, was critically injured and transferred to an Israeli hospital for treatment, the Palestinian Prisoners Society said in a statement.

An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed that a Palestinian man was hospitalized after being shot during an arrest operation. She said a soldier fired at the man when he tried to steal a weapon.

She said he threw objects including a gas can at soldiers. Two were injured, she said.

Amjad al-Najjar, the director of the PPS office in Hebron, denounced the arrest raid targeting a man who is already unable to walk without assistance.

Al-Najjar said that the Israeli authorities were responsible for Ibedo's life. He called on the Israeli side to allow the man's family and lawyer to visit him in custody.

An army spokeswoman denied Ibedo was under arrest and said he was still undergoing treatment in hospital.

Ibedo has been unable to walk on his own since he was shot in 2011 with a so-called dum dum bullet to the abdomen, which ruptured several internal organs and left him permanently disabled.

Since that incident, which Ibedo said happened while he was already in custody, he has not been able to walk due to a paralyzed left leg.

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by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

Israeli soldiers kidnapped former political prisoner, Mo’taz Obeido, 32, from Hebron city, in the southern part of the occupied West Bank. Obeido suffered a disability after being shot by the army in November of 2011.

Back in 2011 Obeido was shot by the soldiers leading to paralysis in his left leg, in addition to suffering extensive damage to his stomach and intestines after the soldiers fired an international-banned dumdum bullet at him from a distance that does not exceed 5 meters.

His father said that a large military force surrounded his son’s store in Wad Al-Harya area, in Hebron, and kidnapped him after forcing him to remove his clothes.

He added that soldiers also fired several rounds of live ammunition during the attack, and that several blood stains were found on the ground after the soldiers left the area, an issue that raises fears among the family that Obeido might have been injured again.

The Hebron office of the Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS) held Israel fully responsible for the life of Obeido.

Amjad An-Najjar, head of the Hebron branch of the PPS, said that Obeido requires ongoing medical attention and follow-up due to his previous injuries, and that he is a married father of three daughters, and was repeatedly kidnapped and imprisoned by Israel, including being imprisoned for two years without charges.

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HEBRON, April 11, 2013 (WAFA) – Israeli forces Thursday rearrested 32-year-old released handicapped prisoner Motaz Abedu from the city of Hebron, according to his father.

He said that a large military force surrounded Abedu’s shop, stripped him totally and left him outside in the cold weather before arresting him.

He said that a gunshot was heard at the scene and expressed concern that his son might have been shot; “blood was found on the ground after Abedu was arrested”.

The Palestinian prisoner’s club held Israel fully responsible for the life of Abedu, whose health condition is very critical. “He uses a urinary drainage bag at all times and was shot in his left leg by Israeli soldiers when he was arrested two years ago, which led to paralyzing his leg.”

Abedu, a father of three, was subjected to several attempts of arrest, including his latest administrative arrest where he spent two years in jail without charge or trial.

T.R.