Outrage as Israeli Police Shoot Dead Unarmed Palestinian

An Israeli soldier runs during a raid in Beit Jala in the Israeli-occupied West Bank February 6, 2020. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma
An Israeli soldier runs during a raid in Beit Jala in the Israeli-occupied West Bank February 6, 2020. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma
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Outrage as Israeli Police Shoot Dead Unarmed Palestinian

An Israeli soldier runs during a raid in Beit Jala in the Israeli-occupied West Bank February 6, 2020. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma
An Israeli soldier runs during a raid in Beit Jala in the Israeli-occupied West Bank February 6, 2020. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma

Israeli police shot dead a disabled Palestinian near Jerusalem's Old City on Saturday who they had suspected was carrying a weapon but turned out to be unarmed.

The Associated Press quoted the police as saying that he was carrying “a suspicious object that looked like a pistol” and ran away when ordered to stop. They said they chased him on foot and opened fire.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld later said that no gun was found in the area.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party denounced the killing as a "war crime".

It said it held Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fully responsible for the "execution of a young disabled man".

The Palestinian leadership demanded that whoever killed the man be brought before the International Criminal Court.

The Palestinians' official news agency Wafa identified the dead man as Iyad Khairi Hallak, a resident of the Wadi Joz neighborhood of east Jerusalem with special needs.

"Today, Israeli Occupation Forces in East Jerusalem assassinated Iyad Khairi, 32 a disabled Palestinian," Saeb Erekat, the secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization, wrote on Twitter.

The killing is a "crime that will be met with impunity unless the world stops treating Israel as a state above the law," he said.

Erekat added the hashtags #PalestineWillBeFree and #ICantBreath -- a reference to African-American man George Floyd whose death while a policeman kneeled on his neck has sparked riots in the United States.

Hamas, the movement that controls the Gaza Strip, said the killing of the young Palestinian man in Jerusalem would "fuel our people's revolution which will not stop until the occupier leaves all Palestinian territory."

It warned of a new Palestinian intifada, or uprising.

Rosenfeld said an investigation had been opened into the circumstances surrounding the man's death.

The shooting came a day after Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank who they said had tried to ram them with his vehicle. No Israelis were wounded in either incident.

Tensions have risen in recent weeks as Israel has pressed ahead with plans to annex large parts of the occupied West Bank in line with President Donald Trump's Middle East plan, which strongly favors Israel and was rejected by the Palestinians.

The Palestinian Authority said last week that it was no longer bound by past agreements with Israel and the United States and was cutting off all ties, including longstanding security coordination.



Sistani Calls for Limiting Possession of Weapons to the Iraqi State

This handout picture released by the media office of Iraq's top Shiite authority Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani shows him (L) during a meeting with the new representative of the United Nations secretary general for Iraq and head of the UN Assistance Mission to the country (UNAMI), Mohamed al-Hassan of Oman (C), in the central Iraqi city of Najaf on November 4, 2024. (Photo by Sistani's Media Office / AFP)
This handout picture released by the media office of Iraq's top Shiite authority Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani shows him (L) during a meeting with the new representative of the United Nations secretary general for Iraq and head of the UN Assistance Mission to the country (UNAMI), Mohamed al-Hassan of Oman (C), in the central Iraqi city of Najaf on November 4, 2024. (Photo by Sistani's Media Office / AFP)
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Sistani Calls for Limiting Possession of Weapons to the Iraqi State

This handout picture released by the media office of Iraq's top Shiite authority Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani shows him (L) during a meeting with the new representative of the United Nations secretary general for Iraq and head of the UN Assistance Mission to the country (UNAMI), Mohamed al-Hassan of Oman (C), in the central Iraqi city of Najaf on November 4, 2024. (Photo by Sistani's Media Office / AFP)
This handout picture released by the media office of Iraq's top Shiite authority Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani shows him (L) during a meeting with the new representative of the United Nations secretary general for Iraq and head of the UN Assistance Mission to the country (UNAMI), Mohamed al-Hassan of Oman (C), in the central Iraqi city of Najaf on November 4, 2024. (Photo by Sistani's Media Office / AFP)

Iraq's top Shiite authority Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani announced seven factors that would achieve Iraq’s stability.

He made his remarks shortly after Israeli television reported that he was among a list of assassination targets alongside leader of the Houthis in Yemen Abdulmalek al-Houthi, Lebanon’s Hezbollah Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem, commander of Iran’s Quds Forces Esmail Qaani and Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Sistani received on Monday new representative of the United Nations secretary-general and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) Dr. Mohamed al-Hassan of Oman.

A statement from Sistani’s office called on Iraqis to “derive lessons from the past and to work tirelessly to overcome setbacks and work on building a better future where everyone can live in security, stability and prosperity.”

Sistani has since 2015 been refusing to meet with Iraqi officials in protest over rampant corruption in the country and over how his recommendations have been ignored.

Overcoming corruption demands drafting a practical plan to run the country that relies on competency and integrity and that prevents foreign meddling in Iraq, he added.

It also called for imposing the rule of law and limiting the possession of weapons to the state, he stressed.

“The Iraqis have a long path ahead of them,” he said.

The Iraqi government had protested against the Israeli assassination target list, specifically Sistani’s inclusion in it, calling on the international community to condemn attempts to attack figures who enjoy influence and international respect.

Sistani also said he was “deeply pained by the ongoing tragedies in Lebanon and Gaza,” noting that it was “deeply unfortunate” that the international community and its institutions “have been incapable of imposing effective solutions” to end them or at least protect civilians from Israel’s assaults.

For his part, al-Hassan said he reached an agreement with Sistani to bolster Iraq’s regional and international standing.