IMEMC News – May 30, 2020
Israeli soldiers killed, on Friday evening, a Palestinian father of five children, including an infant, allegedly after he tried to ram them with his car near Nabi Saleh village, northwest of the central West Bank city of Ramallah. His family denied the military allegations and said the man lost control of his car after Israeli colonialist settlers opened fire at it.
The Israeli army claimed that the soldiers fired live rounds at the Palestinian car after the driver reportedly tried to ram them, and that the soldiers “neutralized the threat,” a term Israel and various Israeli media outlets frequently use when the soldiers fatally shoot a Palestinian.
The slain man has been identified as Fadi Adnan Sarhan Samara, 37, a father of five children, including an infant (two months of age) from Abu Qash village, north of Ramallah.
He works in Israel and came back home to Nabi Saleh to celebrate the Muslim feast of al-Fitr with his family.
His brothers stated that he left his home in the evening heading to the az-Zawiya village, west of Salfit in central West Bank, to drive his wife and children back home, as they were visiting her family there.
The Israeli army claimed that the man tried to ram soldiers with his car near a natural spring in the Ramallah governorate. He was shot in the leg and was left to bleed for about an hour, without any first aid.
Palestinian media outlets and residents in the area said the man lost control of his car when illegal Israeli colonialist settlers, who repeatedly invade the area, opened fire at his car, before the soldiers fired a barrage of live rounds at it, claiming that he was attempting to ram them.
One of his brothers, and one of his cousins, were both detained by the army, and after being released, they stated that an army officer told them, after confirming his identity, that they cannot take his corpse for burial.
They stated that the military was taunting them by stating that the family can have his corpse back “maybe in an hour or two, a month or two, a year or two….”
His family, and the residents of his village, strongly denounced his murder, and stated that the Israeli soldiers are always “trigger happy” when it comes to shooting Palestinians, and that the army tries to justify these crimes by making false allegations.
They called for a serious investigation into the fatal shooting and called on international organizations to act and hold Israel accountable at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for its escalating crimes and ongoing violations against the Palestinian people, their homes and property.