Israeli occupation forces killed Bara’a Hamamdeh, 18, during a heavily armed so-called “arrest” raid in Dheisheh refugee camp in the pre-dawn hours of Friday, 14 July. Hamamdeh was one of the youth of the camp confronting the invasion of Israeli occupation fores into the camp and seeking to protect fellow refugee youth from arrest and imprisonment.
Hamamdeh, 18, was an Palestinian youth who was active with the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the camp. He and other youth were confronting the invading occupation soldiers as they violently invaded the camp, seizing Mohammed Obeid and Muath Abu Nassar. Hamamdeh was laid to rest in a massive funeral marching through the refugee camp.
At least four more Palestinians were seized in the overnight raids and attacks, including Bilal Diab, 33, former prisoner and long-term hunger striker, who engaged in an 87-day hunger strike in 2012 against his imprisonment without charge or trial under administrative detention.
Earlier on Thursday, occupation forces invaded several media offices, including Al-Quds TV and Ramsat Media in al-Khalil, confiscating computers and hard disks. These raids come as part of a long series of attacks on Palestinian expression and media, including the raids on and imprisonment of dozens of journalists, including five members of the Sanabel Radio staff. They also come in the context of the suppression of Palestinian civilian expression through hundreds of “incitement” charges against Palestinians for posting on social media.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network mourns Bara’a Hamamdeh, denounces his murder and urges international action on the ongoing Israeli “arrest raids” that have caused not only the roundup of Palestinian civilians on a daily basis, but the violent death and murder of a number of Palestinians at the hands of Israeli occupation forces such as Basil al-Araj, Moataz Washaha and others, like Bara’a, shot down as they attempted to protect their communities through protest. Further, we also note the ongoing targeting of community leaders and former prisoners and long-term hunger strikers like Bilal Diab, Ghassan Zawahreh, Muhammad Allan, Anas Shadid and countless others for repeated attacks and invasions. We demand the immediate release of Bilal Diab and all Palestinian prisoners.
