International committee to investigate the death of Palestinian icon Ibrahim Abu Thurayya

Palestine

Published: 2018-01-14 10:19

Last Updated: 2024-03-28 02:36


Abu Thurayya became a symbol for Palestinians protests.
Abu Thurayya became a symbol for Palestinians protests.

An International Medical committee arrived on early Sunday to Gaza, to start investigating the body of the Palestinian protester Ibrahim Abu Thurayya who was killed in protests early in December.

“The State Security in Gaza and the prosecution headed on Sunday morning to the cemetery of Sheikh Radwan to take Abu Thurayya’s body out, to investigate it by the forensic pathologists, in the presence of a European Medical delegation,” Shehan News Agency reported.

This step came following Israeli attempts to deny they shot him dead on Gaza borders while he was protesting peacefully over Trump’s Jerusalem decision.

Abu Thurayya was shot dead on December 15th, 2017, while taking part in protests on the ‘Second Friday of Rage’, protesting Trump’s announcement to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.

Abu Thurayya lost his legs in a previous Israeli airstrike, however; he was known for his activism against Israel.

Israel’s Military Police Investigations Division (MPID) opened earlier an investigation in his killing, but the initial military inquiry found no wrongdoing on the part of the Israeli soldiers at the scene, Haaretz reported.

The inquiry even casted doubt whether Abu Thurayya was killed by Israeli forces at all.

However, medical records, including the hospital report and the death certificate said that Abu Thurayya was hit by a bullet above his left eye, which was the same results released in a report by the Palestinian Red Crescent.

In a video recorded on the same day of his death, Abu Thurayya was seen carrying the Palestinian flag and waving at the Israeli soldiers across the borders.

He was saying: "I want to go there," pointing to the other side of the border. “This land is our land, we will not give up. America has to withdraw its decision.”

Many Arab and International reports highlighted Abu Thurayy’s story, that made him a symbol for Palestinians’ resistance and protests, because of his special medical status.

Abu Thurayya is one of four people killed by the Israeli forces on the same day, and one of the 16 Palestinians who were killed since Trump’s announcement in both Gaza and the West Bank.

Protests since Trump’s announcement did not stop in different Palestinian cities in the West Bank and Gaza, causing thousands of injuries and arrests.