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Photo:
Usama Murad Jamil Marie Zeidat, age 14.
Published by Maan News
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RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- The Israel Prison Service (IPS) prevented an injured 14-year-old Palestinian prisoner from attending his court session at the Ofer military court on Sunday, under the pretext that there were no ambulances to transfer him from the Ramla prison hospital where he is being held, according to the Palestinian Prisoner's Society (PPS).

Usama Murad Jamil Marie Zeidat was shot and injured by Israeli forces after he allegedly attempted to carry out a stabbing attack near the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba in the southern occupied West Bank district of Hebron on Sep. 23. No Israelis were injured.

He spent three weeks in Israel’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center and underwent foot surgery. Israeli media reported at the time of the incident that the teen had been shot in the stomach.

The teen’s family, who are from the village of Bani Naim, have not been allowed to visit Usama since his detention, according to Akram Samara, a lawyer from PPS.

Samara said in a statement that during that during Sunday’s court session he filed an appeal against Israel’s decision to extend Usama’s detention until all legal procedures were completed.

He said that the court’s decision on the appeal will be issued in the coming week.

Samara highlighted that Usama is supposed to attend court sessions.
Since a wave of unrest began in October last year, which has seen 238 Palestinians killed by Israelis and 34 Israelis killed by Palestinians, the Hebron area in particular grew as the epicenter of upheaval.

Israeli authorities severely restricted the movement of Palestinians in parts of Hebron’s Old City, declaring it a "closed military zone" for several months, while closures across the Hebron district in July saw the most widespread restrictions on movement in the occupied West Bank in two years.

A number of small-scale attacks by Palestinian individuals have targeted the illegal Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba, which is located between the Old City and Bani Naim.

Five of the Israelis to be killed over the past year resided in Kiryat Arba, while six Palestinians from Bani Naim have been shot dead by Israeli forces in the same period.

While Israel alleges many of those were attempting to attack Israelis when they were shot, Palestinians and rights groups have disputed Israel's version of events in a number of cases.

Israel has also come under repeated criticism for failing to carry out due process in response to alleged and actual attacks, particularly in regard to the apparent extrajudicial executions of Palestinians who did not pose a threat when they were killed.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces have detained a number of Palestinians across the occupied West Bank for allegedly being in possession of knives in recent months amid the violence, many of them minors.