Palestinian dies from wounds sustained in Israeli raid at al-Aqsa Mosque
A Palestinian man died on Saturday after succumbing to wounds he suffered at the hands of Israeli forces at the al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem last month, his brother and Palestinian sources have said.
Waleed al-Sharif, 21, was injured on 22 April during one of many Israeli raids on the mosque in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
He died in Jerusalem's Hadassah University Hospital, his brother Abd al-Rahman al-Sharif told local media.
Sharif was severely wounded by a rubber-coated bullet and was taken by Israeli forces to Hadassah Hospital in Ein Karem, according to Palestinian sources.
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Mohammad Abu Hummus, a Palestinian activist and eyewitness to the incident, told The New Arab that Israeli forces fired many rubber-coated bullets on the day and one of them hit Sharif in the head.
"He remained on the floor for several minutes, before Israeli policemen carried him outside the sanctuary, where they left him bleeding for another 20 minutes until the ambulance arrived and took him to the hospital," Abu Hummus told the London-based news website.
Israeli authorities have denied that Sharif was struck by a bullet and said he hit his head after falling during a skirmish.
The Sharif family's lawyer said that Israeli police were refusing to return the body and were insisting on performing an autopsy against the family's wishes, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
However, as he was not under arrest at the time of his death, the police have no legal right to keep the body.
Israeli security forces stormed al-Aqsa several times during the Muslim month of Ramadan, firing tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets at worshippers and demonstrators.
More than 170 Palestinians were wounded and 450 were arrested in the Israeli crackdown.
Sharif's death on 14 May came in the aftermath of the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot and killed by Israeli forces on 11 May during a raid in the village of Jenin in the occupied West Bank.
More than 50 Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli forces since the beginning of 2022 in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.
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