Israel-Palestine war: Palestinian protester run over by PA armoured vehicle dies
A young Palestinian succumbed to his wounds on Thursday, a week after he was run over by a Palestinian security vehicle as it dispersed a protest against the Israeli bombing campaign on Gaza.
The Palestinian Authority has taken responsibility for the death of Mahmoud Abu Laban, who was run over in central Ramallah on 17 October amid a crackdown by the authority on rallies across the occupied West Bank denouncing Israel’s bombing of a Gaza hospital that killed hundreds of people.
Footage aired on Al-Jazeera showed a Palestinian armoured vehicle charging at protesters.
In a statement on Thursday, the PA acknowledged full responsibility for Abu Laban’s death and said that he would be officially certified as a martyr of Palestine.
PA spokesperson Major-General Talal Dweikat added that a full investigation would be conducted into the incident.
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Israel’s strike on the al-Ahli al-Arab hospital in Gaza City and the mounting anger against the PA’s security coordination with Israel had brought thousands onto the streets across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, where protesters rallied outside local PA headquarters and Israeli military checkpoints.
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The PA cracked down on protesters with live ammunition, tear gas, and stun grenades, killing a 12-year-old Palestinian girl during protests in Jenin, and seriously wounding another Palestinian youth in Tubas.
Protests had also spread across East Jerusalem, with Israeli forces firing on protesters with live ammunition, tear gas and skunk water in the neighbourhoods of Silwan, Shufat, Wadi al-Joz, and Kafr Aqab.
A 31-year-old Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli forces in Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed at least 110 Palestinians since 7 October and wounded more than 1,900 people.
The Israeli aerial onslaught on the Gaza Strip started on 7 October after an unprecedented assault on southern Israel by Hamas. At least 7,326 Palestinians, including 3,038 children, according to health ministry figures released on Friday.
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