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Photo: Abdullah Shalaldah, 28, was shot at least three times in the head and upper body while visiting his cousin.
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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Amnesty International said Thursday that the killing of a 28-year-old Palestinian by undercover Israeli forces during a raid on the al-Ahli hospital may amount to an "extrajudicial execution."

Abdullah Shalaldah, 28, was shot at least three times in the head and upper body while visiting his cousin 20-year-old Azzam Azmi Shalaldah, who was a patient at the hospital.

“The fact that Abdullah Shalaldah was shot in the head and upper body suggests this was an extrajudicial execution, adding to a disturbing pattern of similar recent incidents by Israeli forces in the West Bank which warrant urgent investigation,” said Philip Luther, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International.

“Israeli forces must immediately cease their use of intentional lethal force against people who are not posing an imminent threat to life.”
A witness told Amnesty that Abdullah had gone to the bathroom and had just come out when Israeli forces shot him. The undercover agents then threatened another patient at gunpoint and handcuffed another relative to a bed before leaving with Azzam Shalaldah in a wheelchair.

The Israeli agents were disguised as Palestinian civilians, wearing keffiyehs and fake beards, with one dressed as a pregnant woman.
Israel has claimed that Abdullah attacked Israeli forces, but witnesses say he was unarmed and some meters away from the soldiers. There no was attempt to arrest him or to use non-lethal alternatives before he was shot dead, Amnesty said.

"The killing of Abdullah Shalaldah is the latest in a pattern of killings by Israeli forces which Amnesty International considers to have been unlawful," Amnesty reported.

"The Israeli military’s own regulations allow soldiers in the occupied West Bank to open fire only when their lives are in imminent danger. It appears that this was not the case in the shooting of Abdullah Shalaldah, as he was unarmed."

Despite the increasing number of attacks by Palestinians on Israeli soldiers, police, and civilians there is never an excuse for using lethal force where it is not warranted, the group added.