Israeli police on Saturday shot and killed an Israeli Arab who they believe grabbed a policeman’s gun and fired it in Jerusalem’s Old City.
The man killed was identified as Mohammed al-Assibi, a 26-year-old medical student who lived in Houra, a Bedouin town in southern Israel. His family rejected the police version and demanded to see surveillance camera footage, according to local media. The police said there were none.
The incident took place around midnight (9:00 p.m. GMT Friday) near the Chain Gate, one of the accesses to the Esplanade of the Mosques, in East Jerusalem, the Palestinian sector of the Holy City, annexed by Israel.
Police arrested a ‘suspect’ and while he was being questioned, ‘the terrorist suddenly attacked’ one of them, grabbed his gun and fired, police said in a statement . The police “who were in danger, fought with the terrorist and shot him”, added the police, adding that doctors had then pronounced him dead.
At around 1:00 a.m. (22:00 GMT Friday), an AFP photographer saw a large number of Israeli police deployed in the alleys of the Old City.
The Israeli Arab Raam party (moderate Islamist), represented in Parliament, also rejected the police version, noting Facebook posts by “witnesses” saying that the incident took place when Assibi was helping a woman arguing with the police.
The leader of this formation, Mansour Abbas, disputed the police response that there was no CCTV footage of the incident.
“It’s an attempt to hide the reality,” he said on Twitter, calling for an immediate investigation.
The High Monitoring Committee, an organization representing Israel’s Arab minority, announced “a general strike and a day of mourning” on Sunday following the “execution” of Mohammed al-Assibi.
Police maintained their version of events and released another statement saying “the attack itself was not recorded on security cameras or those worn by the police.”
She also dismissed the fact that a woman was involved in the incident, saying Assibi had “arrived alone”.
Police later released a video showing a man identified as Mohammed Al-Assibi walking near the esplanade. Another video shows frightened people at the door of the Chain, presumably from a gunshot.
The incident came after a huge crowd of Palestinian worshipers gathered at the Al-Masjid esplanade on Friday for the great midday prayer on the second Friday of Ramadan.
Israeli police, who guard the entrances to the esplanade, said more than 100,000 worshipers had gathered there and more than 2,000 police had been mobilized across the city.
In recent weeks, several foreign chancelleries have expressed concern about possible violence as the Christian and Jewish Easter falls this year during Ramadan and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has experienced a new outbreak of violence since the beginning of the year, including the intensity has dropped significantly over the past week.
The third holiest site in Islam, the Esplanade des Mosques is built on what the Jews call the Temple Mount, the holiest place in Judaism.
04/01/2023 18:03:48 – Jerusalem (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
