Occupied East Jerusalem – A pizza field and a bullet gap. That was the one proof left on al-Hardoub Avenue of the grotesque June 16 sniper assault on Uday Abu Juma’, 21, and Iyas Abu Mufreh, 12, within the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of at-Tur, after authorities swept the scene the next day.
Simply earlier than midnight, cousins Uday and Iyas had gathered with relations outdoors their grandfather’s house in at-Tur. The Abu Juma’ prolonged household had come collectively to have a good time their grandmother’s return from the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. A daughter within the household had additionally scored extremely on the Palestinian nationwide “tawjihi” exams.
Days earlier than, Israeli authorities had positioned roadblocks on the 2 principal entrances into the neighbourhood, at first of the 12-day battle with Iran on June 13. However based on relations, that night time, all was quiet within the neighbourhood.
A pizza field is all that is still from the at-Tur taking pictures, beside the alley the place the taking pictures occurred close to the Abu Juma’ household house (Al Jazeera)
Iyas and Uday had been sitting close to a automotive, consuming pizza, when abruptly, they and their relations had been fired on. Of 10 pictures fired, two struck Iyas and Uday, and blood spilled over the pizza.
“Everybody was in shock,” recalled Nisreen Abu Mufreh, Iyas’s mom. “We didn’t know what was occurring. Clearly, there weren’t any threats in the direction of the navy (from our avenue).”
Solely when reviewing neighbours’ safety digicam footage of the road did they later realise that two Israeli snipers, positioned about 500 metres (550 yards) away on a rooftop, had opened fireplace on the household gathering with out warning.
When the household tried to hurry the 2 to the hospital, Israeli police stopped the ambulance, detaining Iyas’s father, Raed. The police accused Iyas and Uday of throwing Molotov cocktails and launching fireworks through the household gathering, and claimed that Israeli forces had opened fireplace in self-defence.
The boys had been initially taken to Al Makassed Hospital in at-Tur. They had been later transferred to Hadassah Hospital in Ein Kerem, West Jerusalem.
On the hospital in at-Tur, the household was once more stopped by the police. “How might you shoot a child like this?” a horrified Nisreen requested the police. The police responded that they didn’t know who shot the 2 boys, and even tried to say that the taking pictures was the results of an “inner household dispute”, based on the household.
The alley in at-Tur wherein Israeli snipers shot two younger members of an East Jerusalem household on June 16 (Al Jazeera)
‘He could not stroll once more’
The accidents to Iyas and Uday had been catastrophic. The bullet that hit Iyas – who’s fortunate to be alive, medical doctors say – struck simply centimetres from his coronary heart, leaving an enormous open wound on his left shoulder and inflicting vital nerve and artery injury. Uday was shot within the abdomen, with the bullet popping out by way of his again and damaging his nerves, arteries and backbone.
Iyas’s household is terrified that the boy’s arm and hand will probably be completely impaired, whereas Uday could not stroll once more.
Docs on the hospital instructed the households that Uday and Iyas had been struck by “dumdum” bullets. These are designed to broaden on impression to trigger most injury, and are banned to be used in warfare below worldwide legislation. Whereas East Jerusalem is just not formally a warfare zone, it’s below unlawful Israeli occupation.
“What provides you the correct to shoot a 12-year-old child, sitting together with his cousin, consuming pizza? And to make it in order that his cousin is just not capable of stroll once more in his life?” requested a distraught Amir Abu Mufreh, 21, outdoors Iyas’s affected person room. Amir has spent on daily basis and night time within the hospital together with his little brother.
Amir stated his youngest brother was “a superb child” and “not a troublemaker”, and recalled how Iyas would assist him promote corn on the road. “I’m speechless. I don’t know what to say any extra.”
Iyas Abu Mufreh, 12, was shot by Israeli snipers throughout a household celebration in occupied East Jerusalem. The increasing ‘dumdum’ bullet narrowly missed his coronary heart and brought on extreme injury to his shoulder, which the household fears could also be completely broken (Al Jazeera)
The day after the assaults, Israeli police got here to al-Hardoub Avenue and eliminated the bullets and bullet casings left behind on the scene, members of the local people stated. Additionally they took away damaged glass from the automotive they had been close to, and cleaned away the blood left by the shootings. Solely a single bullet gap on the automotive and the discarded pizza field remained. “They wiped the crime scene clear,” remarked Nisreen.
In keeping with the household and their neighbours, police returned to the neighbourhood a number of instances within the days that adopted, surveying the state of affairs. Curiously sufficient, they eliminated the concrete blocks positioned on the neighbourhood’s entrances. These roadblocks had compelled locals to take lengthy detours and stroll on foot to succeed in the close by Augusta Victoria Hospital, one other facility that caters primarily to native Palestinians.
“They claimed the roadblocks had been (put in) to regulate the neighbourhood, contemplating the entire warfare state of affairs,” stated Nisreen. “So why take away them the day after (the taking pictures) and act like nothing occurred?
“Their objective,” stated Nisreen, “is to make chaos and depart.”
A automotive within the alley the place the taking pictures occurred is seen with bullet holes within the bonnet (Al Jazeera)
‘Al-Aqsa is below my full sovereignty, identical to Tel Aviv’
The taking pictures of Uday Abu Juma’ and Iyas Abu Mufreh is likely one of the extra violent instances amongst quite a few crackdowns by Israeli authorities on East Jerusalem’s Palestinian residents, through the 12-day warfare between Israel and Iran in June.
Firstly of the battle, Israeli police put up roadblocks in a number of neighbourhoods and residents described an increase within the variety of nightly raids in neighbourhoods equivalent to At-Tur, Issawiyeh, Kafr Aqab and Wadi al-Joz.
Mirroring police actions following the October 7, 2023 assaults on southern Israel by Hamas, at the least two residents in occupied East Jerusalem had been arrested over social media posts through the 12-day battle.
Locals reported having their telephones usually searched by Israeli border police deployed to East Jerusalem, and two Palestinians had been allegedly overwhelmed for possessing content material on their telephones supportive of Iran’s retaliatory rocket assaults on Israel, based on Rami Saleh, director of the Jerusalem department of the Jerusalem Authorized Assist and Human Rights Heart (JLAC).
Israeli border police verify the identification papers of Palestinians at Damascus Gate to the Outdated Metropolis of Jerusalem, solely permitting residents to enter (Al Jazeera)
“The aggressive method of police and troopers in these (neighbourhood) entrances is way, a lot heavier than typical,” stated Saleh.
In addition to abruptly closing entrances to the Outdated Metropolis of Jerusalem for almost everybody who didn’t reside there, the Israeli authorities compelled most shopkeepers and avenue distributors to shut their companies within the Muslim and Christian Quarters, citing “the safety state of affairs”.
The Western Wall, a holy web site for Jews, remained open. However for almost per week, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Haram al-Sharif, identified to Jews because the Temple Mount, had been closed off to Christian and Muslim worshippers. These guidelines had been relaxed barely for a few days, permitting solely a restricted quantity to hope. However entry to Haram al-Sharif was utterly blocked once more to worshippers following the US strike on Iranian nuclear services early on June 22, till after Israel’s ceasefire with Iran.
In response, dozens of Palestinian males gathered for Friday afternoon prayers outdoors the partitions of the Outdated Metropolis on June 20.
The closure of Haram Al-Sharif – an space containing the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque, and below the only custodianship of the Jordanian-operated Islamic Waqf – is in direct contravention of the association between Israel and Jordan, following a collection of makes an attempt by the Israeli authorities and political figures to infringe on the Waqf’s sovereignty over the religiously and politically delicate web site.
As a senior supply from the Waqf instructed Al Jazeera: “The (Israeli) occupation closed Al-Aqsa Mosque to ship a message to the Islamic world: ‘Al-Aqsa is below my full sovereignty, identical to Tel Aviv.’”
The streets of Outdated Jerusalem’s Christian and Muslim quarters are empty after retailers and companies had been closed by Israeli authorities, citing ‘safety issues’ through the 12-day battle with Iran (Al Jazeera)
Handled as a ‘collective menace’, not a ‘professional civilian inhabitants’
Alongside these restrictions and actions by the Israeli authorities in occupied East Jerusalem, Palestinian motion within the West Financial institution was additionally severely curtailed through the warfare with Iran, with most Palestinian crossings into Jerusalem closed or restricted, together with many checkpoints within the besieged West Financial institution.
“The intensified restrictions, raids, arrests and spiritual web site closures are justified below a safety pretext however, in follow, these are political instruments used to suppress Palestinian presence in public area and silence professional expression,” stated the Israeli NGOs Ir Amim and Bimkom in a shared assertion, calling these insurance policies “unjustified collective punishment”.
“The Palestinian public in East Jerusalem is handled as a collective menace,” the assertion continued, “not as a professional civilian inhabitants that’s an integral a part of the town’s cloth.”
A spokesperson for the Israeli police didn’t reply to Al Jazeera’s requests for remark concerning the shootings of Iyas Abu Mufreh and Uday Abu Juma’, in addition to questions concerning the aim and nature of the East Jerusalem restrictions and insurance policies by Israeli authorities through the warfare with Iran.
Muslims pray outdoors the partitions of the Outdated Metropolis of Jerusalem through the 12-day warfare with Iran, resulting from restrictions imposed by the Israeli authorities (Al Jazeera)
Along with his possible paralysed cousin being handled on one other flooring of the hospital, Iyas Abu Mufreh stays in Hadassah Hospital, having already undergone a collection of surgical procedures in dimming hopes that he won’t be completely impaired. He has struggled to eat, drink or sleep on the hospital, nonetheless traumatised by the taking pictures and questioning if he’ll ever be capable to play pool – a ardour of his – once more, based on his household.
“I simply need to return house, to have the ability to play with my mates and to return to highschool,” stated Iyas from his hospital mattress, surrounded by his household and mates. Screws had been holding his arm in a single piece as he nervously awaited his subsequent surgical procedure.
“How Israel offers with (Palestinians) is thru all these measures and violence,” stated Aviv Tatarsky, a researcher for Ir Amim, “and (Israel) sees that nobody is holding it accountable.”
