Amnesty International: Trigger Happy- Israel’s Use of Excessive Force In the West Bank

“Out of nowhere many soldiers jumped out and
ambushed Samir. They shot him first in the leg, yet
he managed to run away towards the village. But
how far can an injured child run? Twenty, maybe
30, metres? They could have easily arrested him,
especially when he was injured, but instead they
shot him in the back with live ammunition… To
me this is premeditated murder.”
Malek Murrar, 16, interviewed on 20 September 2013 at the site where he had witnessed his friend Samir Awad being shot earlier
in the year.
Samir Awad was just 16 years old when Israeli soldiers shot and killed him in January 2013
as he fled from the place where a number of Israeli soldiers ambushed a group of Palestinian
children who were protesting against the construction of Israel’s fence/wall, which cuts across
the village of Bodrus, near Ramallah in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), where
they lived. Eyewitnesses attested that Samir Awad and the other children were posing no
serious threat to the soldiers who fired at them, or to others. Yet, more than one year later,
the Israeli authorities have failed to ensure any accountability for his death or for their
soldiers’ use of live fire against Samir Awad and the other children.
The circumstances of the killing of Samir Awad were reminiscent of other killings of
Palestinians during demonstrations against Israel’s continued military occupation in the West
Bank that have occurred in recent years. According to Amnesty International’s research, he
was among the first of at least 22 Palestinian civilians to be killed by Israeli forces in the
occupied West Bank in 2013, four of whom were children. Thousands of other Palestinians
were wounded by Israeli forces in the same year….”

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