Israeli troops kill Palestinian fighter

Israeli occupation troops on Tuesday killed a Palestinian fighter affiliated with the Islamic Jihad resistance group in Dura in the southern West Bank.

Israeli forces firing on Abu Doash's house in Dura

Eyewitnesses said troops, backed by tanks and at least one helicopter gunship, killed 28-year-old Majid Abu Doash as he was leaving a home in the eastern outskirts of Dura, 10km south of Hebron.

 

An eyewitness described the killing as “resembling an extra-judicial execution.”

 

 

I saw the soldiers open fire on Majed from a short distance, they could have arrested him very easily, he was unarmed. It was a cold-blooded murder,” said Iman Amr, who lives 50 metres away.

 

It is a murder. There is no other name for what happened,” he said.

 

Following Majid’s death, forces began pounding the three-storey home with artillery shells and short-range rockets, setting the premise on fire.

 

Abu Doash was killed in cold blood
Abu Doash was killed in cold blood

Abu Doash was killed in cold blood

Israeli troops did not allow the five families living (16 men, women and children) in the home to take out their furniture and belongings.

 

Eventually, an Israeli army bulldozer demolished the home, crushing everything inside.

 


They destroyed our life, May God destroy them all,” cried Fatima Nassar, looking distraught, seeing her home reduced to rubble.  

 

The Israeli army said Abu Doash was a senior commander of the Saraya al-Quds (Jerusalem’s regiments), the military wing of the Islamic Jihad group.

 

Routine

 

Israel routinely demolishes the family homes of Palestinian resistance activists, ostensibly in order to inflict maximal emotional pain and material losses.

 

“Its a murder. There is no other name for what happened”

Iman Amr,
Dura resident

The practice, considered a war crime under international law, has been stepped up lately with the Israeli occupation army increasingly resorting to demolishing high-rising multi-storey buildings in Palestinian towns.

 

Last week, Israeli forces demolished a seven-storey apartment building in Hebron after a short exchange of fire with a Hamas fighter who barricaded himself on the rooftop.

 

Earlier, Israeli troops demolished another eight-storey apartment building in Nablus, leaving two dozen families homeless.

 

Israeli forces also raided the eastern area of the West Bank city of Jenin late on Monday, arresting nine Palestinians, five of whom were Jihad members.

Source: Al Jazeera