JERUSALEM — A 12-year-old boy in east Jerusalem lights the fuse of a protracted firework and hoists it within the air. Then, simply earlier than it explodes and illuminates the night time sky with a burst of purple, he’s shot within the chest by Israeli police and falls to the bottom.
A clip of Rami Halhouli’s closing moments final week has been circulating on social media for days. Human rights activists say it shines a light-weight on the surge of Palestinians — together with dozens of youngsters — who’ve been killed with out justification by Israeli forces since Oct. 7.
Halhouli’s household says the boy was struck by a bullet fired from the course of an Israeli police watchtower trying over the Shuafat refugee camp. Halhouli, his brother and 4 pals, the household says, have been lighting fireworks to have fun the tip of one other day of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month marked by dawn-to-dusk fasting.
Israeli police stated the firework was directed towards its forces and endangered them. Open-fire rules allow officers to shoot somebody who’s aiming a firework at one other particular person in a life-threatening approach. The Israeli authorities says the taking pictures is below investigation.
Ali Halhouli, the boys father, was at dwelling when he heard the gunshot — after which his son crying out for his mom. “After I rushed out of right here I noticed him mendacity on his face,” he stated.
Violence throughout east Jerusalem and the occupied West Financial institution has spiked since Oct. 7, when Hamas militants staged a shock assault on southern Israel and sparked a brutal struggle within the Gaza Strip.
A minimum of 435 Palestinians from east Jerusalem and the West Financial institution have been killed by Israeli fireplace since then, in response to the Palestinian Well being Ministry. Many have been shot lifeless in armed clashes, others for throwing stones at troops. Some seem to have posed no obvious menace.
Round 100 of those 435 fatalities have been kids below 18, in response to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem. In 60 of those circumstances, the group say there appears to have been no justification for using deadly pressure. These embody circumstances the place teenagers or youthful kids have been hurling rocks or collaborating in protests.
“It is clear there’s a trigger-happy perspective amongst Israeli troopers and border-police officers, and it impacts Palestinian kids too,” stated Sarit Michaeli, a B’Tselem spokeswoman.
“Concerning the precise case in Shuafat refugee camp,” she stated, “a younger baby was not posing any menace to a closely armed border police officer.”
Halhouli, the youngest of seven siblings, was shot at round 8 p.m. final Tuesday outdoors his dwelling on a garbage-strewn alleyway, his father stated. He was roughly 60 meters (200 ft) from the Israeli police watchtower; video of the incident reveals Halhouli pointing the firework within the tough course of the watchtower, however in a roundabout way at it.
The police acknowledged the deadly taking pictures that night, saying its forces returned fireplace after fireworks have been launched on the watchtower. All through the night time final Monday and Tuesday, Palestinian protesters from the camp had thrown Molotov cocktails and launched fireworks at Israeli forces, police stated.
Standing on the spot the place the taking pictures happened, Ibrahim Halhouli, a 16-year-old relative of the slain boy, stated they now all avoid the alleyway.
“We’re scared,” he stated, trying up on the watchtower.
Shuafat, dwelling to some 60,000 Palestinians, has lengthy been a flashpoint.
It’s a poor, densely packed neighborhood that lacks municipal providers regardless of falling inside Jerusalem’s metropolis borders. It’s the solely Palestinian refugee camp in Jerusalem, and a lot of militants concerned in assaults on Israelis have come from the realm. It’s segmented from the remainder of Jerusalem by a closely manned checkpoint and Israeli forces commonly raid the camp to arrest suspected militants.
After the taking pictures, Ali Halhouli stated his different sons took the physique to a medical heart in Shuafat the place workers pronounced him lifeless. In desperation, the household discovered an ambulance to move him to Hadassah hospital, considered one of Israel’s largest medical amenities, the place medical doctors stated the bullet had struck his coronary heart.
“The boy is lifeless, you introduced him lifeless,” Ali Halhouli stated, recounting one of many physician’s phrases. Quickly after, a police officer arrived on the ward and stated they wanted to switch the physique to an Israeli forensic institute for an post-mortem.
Ali Halhouli, 61, stated he was left in limbo for days, contacted thrice by completely different cops, every of whom informed him his son’s corpse would quickly be returned.
On one event he was informed he should maintain the funeral to fewer than 40 individuals or face a nice. Funerals of slain Palestinians typically escalate into violent protests. The physique was ultimately handed again to the household in a single day Sunday and buried the following morning, he stated.
Makhash, the Israeli Justice Ministry physique that investigates police conduct, informed the AP that the investigation into the officer who shot the boy is ongoing.
On-duty cops and troopers are not often prosecuted for killing Palestinians. In line with Israeli authorized rights group Yesh Din, a police officer was final charged of homicide in 2021 after taking pictures lifeless an unarmed autistic Palestinian in Jerusalem’s Outdated Metropolis. The officer was later acquitted in 2023, it stated.
The day after Rami Halhouli died, a provocative, high-ranking Israeli official who oversees the police stated the officer who shot him must be recommended, not investigated. Itamar Ben Gvir, the ultra-nationalist minister for nationwide safety, additionally referred to as the boy a terrorist, with out providing any proof.
“A 12-year-old boy a terrorist?” Ali Halhouli stated, clearly harm by the comment.
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Observe AP’s protection of the struggle at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
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This story was first revealed on March 21, 2024. It was up to date on March 22, 2024, to clarify that the minister in command of the police backed the officer’s actions in taking pictures at 12-year-old Rami Halhouli, and that the open-fire rules weren’t cited within the assertion supplied by the police.
