“The attacks, harassment and intimidation committed by Israeli colonists against Palestinians have become a daily reality,” said the United Nations Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on July 10. The young man was killed while he was on agricultural land belonging to his family, in a neighboring village, according to relatives.
Seif Musallet lived in Florida where he managed an ice cream store and had come to spend the summer with his mother and his brothers and sisters. According to his family, settlers would have dried him up, leaving him to dye for three hours, preventing a team of rescuers from reaching him.
Underway military investigation
The Israeli army confirmed that “violent clashes” had taken place on Friday “between Israeli Palestinians and civilians, accompanied by acts of vandalism against Palestinian goods” in this sector. An investigation is underway, said the army.
“We demand that justice be done against these terrorist settlers, there is no doubt that they are, they are on land illegally, they do not belong to them,” said Kamil Hafez Musallet, the father of the deceased, after the funeral. Moved, he denounced the “dehumanization” of the Palestinians.
Call for protection
Another bereaved father, also binational, said he had asked for the help of the American embassy for weeks. “We need protection,” said Hafez Abdoul Jabar, explaining that he became impossible for the inhabitants of this region to go to their land without risking their lives.
His son was killed in January 2024 in unlimited circumstances but involving, according to the family, settlers and the Israeli army. In the courtyard of the village school, hundreds of men and adolescents said together the funeral prayers for Seif Musallet and for Mohammed Al-Shalabi, a 23-year-old Palestinian, also killed on Friday.
Climbing since October 2023
“We are people who try to live in peace, we try to protect our land, we have nothing against the world, nor against the Israelis, we only try to preserve our land,” said Mohammed Al-Shalabi’s uncle, Samer Al-Shalabi, denouncing “barbaric and wild attacks”. Violence in this Palestinian territory has been soaring since the start of the war in Gaza on October 7, 2023.
At least 951 Palestinians, including many fighters, but also many civilians, were killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers, according to an AFP count from data from the Palestinian Authority. At the same time, at least 36 Israelis, including civilians and soldiers, were killed in Palestinian attacks or in Israeli military operations, according to official Israeli data.
In the emotion and anger of these funerals, Samer al-Shalabi wonders: “We will turn as much as possible towards justice, but what will the law be used if the judge is our enemy?” »»
(AFP) Note: This article was published with the help of artificial intelligence.
