Israeli Forces Kill Yet Another Tamimi Family Member

Israeli occupation forces killed another member of the Tamimi family in the occupied West Bank town of Nabi Saleh. The 21-year-old Ezz al-Din Tamimi was shot at close range Wednesday during an early morning raid.

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Village residents told Middle East Eye (MEE) that Israeli soldiers had previously threatened to kill the young man. "They came many times to his house, they called his family, they threatened him and told them: ‘We will kill him like we killed Ahmed Jarrar,' Bilal Tamimi told MEE.

According to a statement by the Israeli military, more than 10 Palestinians tried to disrupt a force carrying out arrests in the village of Nabi Saleh and one of them threw a rock at a soldier, striking him in the head.

“The soldier responded by firing at the Palestinian, who was wounded and given medical treatment at the scene… He was treated at the scene and he was later declared dead. None of our troops were hurt. The incident will be investigated,” the military said.

Pro-Palestinian Israeli activist Jonathan Pollak, who works with the Free the Tamimis campaign, told MEE that Tamimi was shot with live fire at least twice when he was 45 meters away from the soldiers.

Eyewitnesses reported that bullets hit him in the back of the neck and in the chest.

The Palestinian Information Ministry said in a statement that “the execution of Tamimi in cold blood, with three bullets at close range, proves how much our people are in need of international protection against the Israeli war machine.”

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Israeli use of lethal force against Palestinian protesters who pose no “imminent threat to life or serious injury” has drawn international attention and condemnation after the Israeli army killed at least 120 Palestinian protesters who were participating in the Great March of Return in the Gaza Strip.

Nabi Saleh is known for the organization of weekly protests against the expansion of a nearby Jewish-only illegal settlement. The Tamimi family is well known for their active resistance against the Israeli occupation and the expansion of illegal Jewish settlements across the West Bank. In January 16-year-old Musaab Tamimi was shot in the neck in the nearby village of Deir Nidham. He died as a result of his wound.

The village gained further prominence after 17-year-old Ahed Tamimi and her mother, Nariman, were arrested and sentenced to eight months in an Israeli prison on charges of assault and incitement following a video of Ahed slapping an Israeli soldier outside her house.

The incident occurred after Ahed’s 15-year-old  cousin, Mohammed Tamimi, was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier sustaining serious injuries.