On 19 December, 80-year-old Palestinian grandmother Halima Abu Leil was shot in an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) raid on her neighbourhood in Balata refugee camp in Nablus, West Financial institution.
Warning this piece contains a picture from CCTV of the second Halima Abu Leil was shot.
“They could see she is an elderly lady but they shot her six times – in her leg, in her chest. When she was first shot in her legs, she knelt on the ground,” her daughter mentioned.
Picture:
Halima’s daughter
Newly launched grainy CCTV footage reveals the second she was shot and divulges {that a} van marked as an ambulance was used through the shock IDF raid.
Halima Abu Leil’s household need the footage to be seen.
READ MORE: Grandmother shot six occasions by IDF throughout raid, son says
Within the video, we see Halima flip into the road.
Three males are additionally strolling down the road. There isn’t any seen contact between them and Halima. Based mostly on our evaluation of their silhouettes, the determine within the center seems to be holding a weapon. They’re more likely to be neighbourhood militants.
The three males veer to the appropriate, shifting right into a sunny space. One takes a seat on some stairs, whereas the opposite two stand. They be part of somebody sitting there already.
A number of yards away, Halima stops in the midst of the road to talk to a different lady with a buying trolley.
An ambulance pulls into imaginative and prescient, separating the 2 ladies, and drives slowly down the road. A white van pulls in behind the medical car.
A number of moments later, the passenger door of the white van opens and a faint cloud of smoke is seen, suggesting {that a} gunshot is fired.
That is the second Halima falls to her knees.
The lads, a few of them armed, scatter to the appropriate and left into alleyways together with different folks on the street.
An in depth evaluation of the footage means that seen clouds of smoke on the partitions are the results of a number of photographs. The footage and imagery we gathered from the positioning of the killing reveals bullet holes within the constructing subsequent to the place Halima was standing.
Picture:
The precise location Halima Abu Leil was shot in Balata Refugee Camp
The girl she was chatting with moments earlier takes cowl in a doorway.
On the identical time, figures who seem like Israeli army forces exit the ambulance within the foreground. They’re geared up with helmets, backpacks, rifles, and different gear.
Armed figures may also be seen leaving the white van within the background. They’re seen aiming their weapons down the road.
Halima seems to get hit once more and collapses to the ground. The lads more likely to be neighbourhood militants usually are not visibly current on the street when this occurs.
On the time of our earlier report, the IDF mentioned they’d carried out “counterterrorism activity” in Balata camp the morning Halima was killed.
We approached the IDF in regards to the CCTV footage and the usage of a medical car to conduct their operation.
This was its response: “The IDF is committed to and operates in accordance with international law. The mentioned incident is under review. The review will examine the use of the vehicle shown in the video and the claims of harm to uninvolved individuals during the exchange of fire between the terrorists and our forces.”
The usage of a marked medical car for a safety operation may very well be a violation of the Geneva Conference and a struggle crime – in addition to Halima’s killing.
She says: “When I look at the footage, what emerges prima facie is that there were no precautions taken – within these operations whose legality is debatable – to avoid or spare civilian life. No principle of proportionality because there was wildfire directed at the identified target and ultimately no respect for the principle of distinction.
“So this was a homicide in chilly blood and may very well be a struggle crime as an extrajudicial killing.”
According to the United Nations Office of Human Rights in occupied Palestinian territory (OHCHR oPt), Israeli security forces and settlers have killed at least 813 mostly unarmed Palestinians, including 15 women and 177 children, since 7 October 2023.
“This incident have to be investigated independently, successfully, completely, and transparently. If there may be proof of violations of the relevant legislation enforcement requirements, these accountable have to be held to account.”
Sophie Alexander, worldwide affairs producer, and Michelle Inez Simon, visible investigations producer, contributed reporting.
