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<div class="gmail-inner-article-top"><h1 class="gmail-">Israeli snipers ‘shoot Palestinians for sport’</h1><p class="gmail-">Eyewitness
accounts reveal Israeli snipers are systematically targeting unarmed
civilians, including children, using tactics that point to deliberate
genocidal intent and a chilling policy of terror designed to annihilate a
people, not just wage war.</p><div class="gmail-another-name"><p><a href="https://thecradle.co/authors/robert-inlakesh" style="color:rgb(164,4,4)">Robert Inlakesh</a></p></div><div class="gmail-another-name" style="margin-top:16px"><p><font size="1"><span style="color:rgb(84,88,94)">NOV 25, 2024 - </span><a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/israeli-snipers-shoot-palestinians-for-sport">https://thecradle.co/articles/israeli-snipers-shoot-palestinians-for-sport</a></font></p></div></div><div class="gmail-inner-article-img"><img src="https://thecradle-main.oss-eu-central-1.aliyuncs.com/public/articles/fbeceec4-ab49-11ef-8efd-00163e02c055.webp" alt="" width="469" height="222" style="margin-right: 0px;"><span>Photo Credit: The Cradle</span></div><div class="gmail-inner-article-content"><div class="gmail-row"><div class="gmail-col-md-8 gmail-col-sm-7"><div class="gmail-article-content"><span><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">Israel's
attempts to excuse the mass murder of civilians in Gaza as "collateral
damage" fall apart in the face of mounting evidence that it employs
deliberate sniper attacks. The targeted killing of unarmed people –
using quadcopter drones and professional snipers – has restricted access
to essential medical care, food, and water, exposing a chilling reality
behind the occupation army’s actions. </span></p><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) </span><a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/netanyahu-wanted-a-landmark-legal-moment-in-the-palestinian-struggle"><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">arrest warrants</span></a><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">
for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense
Minister Yoav Gallant are further testament to this not being a
conventional war; it is a systematic targeting of civilians that points
directly to genocidal intent.</span></p><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">Over
the past year, debates have raged over what constitutes an “acceptable”
level of collateral damage in Gaza. In July, the West Point US Military
Academy's Modern War Institute even </span><a href="https://mwi.westpoint.edu/minimizing-collateral-damage-with-the-surgical-application-of-force-applying-lessons-from-the-post-9-11-wars-to-israels-war-against-hamas/"><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">published</span></a><span lang="EN" dir="ltr"> a piece that argued for a more surgical approach to be taken by the Israelis.</span></p><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">Similar
discussions that also surround what constitutes a “disproportionate use
of force” are all predicated on Tel Aviv’s approach being one of a
conventional war. However, if Israel’s intention is not to wage war
against Hamas and is instead to intentionally commit </span><a href="https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/192/192-20231228-app-01-00-en.pdf"><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">genocide</span></a><span lang="EN" dir="ltr"> and </span><a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2024/11/14/hopeless-starving-and-besieged/israels-forced-displacement-palestinians-gaza"><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">ethnic cleansing</span></a><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">,
these conversations prove meaningless. And no clearer evidence exists
than the cold-blooded targeting of civilians by sniper fire.</span></p><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr"><strong>Sniping civilians on live TV </strong></span></p><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">Though
there have been instances when sniper attacks on civilians captured the
international media's attention, this grim element of Israel's military
strategy is largely ignored, likely because of the damning
implications.</span></p><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">The first major
case to break headlines in the western media was the murder of two
Christian women at Gaza City’s Holy Family Church on 16 December 2023.
The incident even received </span><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/16/middleeast/idf-sniper-gaza-church-deaths-intl-hnk/index.html"><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">condemnation from the Pope</span></a><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">
over the murder of the Palestinian Catholic mother and her daughter,
who were deliberately killed while seeking refuge inside the church
compound.</span></p><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">But today, these kinds
of shootings are so commonplace that they even occur during live TV
interviews with western news outlets. For example, in January, British
broadcaster ITV captured the moment when 51-year-old Ramzi Abu Sahloul </span><a href="https://www.pbs.org/video/war-in-the-holy-land-1706138139/"><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">was shot through the chest</span></a><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">,
only moments after he had spoken on air. Sahloul was part of a group of
civilians who were fleeing to Rafah in Gaza’s south while holding white
flags on the orders of the Israeli military. </span></p><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">Another
innocent civilian murdered while fleeing and with a white flag was Hala
Khreis; she was shot and fatally wounded while holding her grandson's
hand as they were walking. The incident was also caught on camera. A </span><a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2024/01/25/palestinians-gaza-shooting-investigation-ward-intl-ldn-vpx.cnn"><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">CNN investigation</span></a><span lang="EN" dir="ltr"> was able to prove that Israeli soldiers stationed nearby were responsible.</span></p><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr"><strong>Intimidation by assassination </strong></span></p><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">Palestinian correspondent </span><a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/6-author/motasem-dalloul/"><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">Motasem Dalloul</span></a><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">, who is based in northern Gaza, testifies to </span><i><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">The Cradle</span></i><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">
that his own son Yahya was murdered by an Israeli sniper on 29 May,
after which the soldiers ran over his child's body with a tank.</span></p><blockquote><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">“I
took my sons to our destroyed house, in Al-Sabra neighborhood, in order
to pick up some clothes from under the rubble. When we were there, I
saw my son fall to the ground and he started bleeding from his head. I
got close to him and found that his head had exploded.”</span></p></blockquote><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">He
explains that although he couldn’t see the Israeli soldiers, he knew
that they were positioned nearby with sniper weapons and states that
when he approached little Yahya’s body, he was struck by the fact that
he was motionless. He adds:</span></p><blockquote><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">“Israeli
tanks began shooting and firing everywhere. I knew that my son was dead
… so I had to leave him on the ground and flee with my other sons to
safety. I couldn’t return back to this place for 10 days, where I later
found that an Israeli tank had run over his body and dismembered it, we
could only collect some of his flesh and bones, which had been smashed
by the Israeli tanks, and we put them in a piece of fabric, like a
shirt, and took them, burying them in a makeshift cemetery.”</span></p></blockquote><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">During Dalloul’s conversation with </span><i><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">The Cradle</span></i><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">, bombs exploding in the background are heard as he recounts:</span></p><blockquote><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">“I
think the reason Israeli occupation [word muffled by the sound of
explosions] killed my son was to frighten the rest of us and warn us not
to return to this area … as that area was later on destroyed and all
the buildings were erased, turning it into a military buffer zone. This
put much pressure on the residents of Gaza City who do not have homes
and a lot of these displaced people were murdered.”</span></p></blockquote><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr"><strong>Psychological warfare and denial of medical care</strong></span></p><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">The
calculated targeting of civilians is not limited to sniper fire. On 20
September, a UN special committee reported to the General Assembly that
there has also been a “</span><a href="https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/n24/271/19/pdf/n2427119.pdf"><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">deliberate denial of healthcare access by Israeli snipers</span></a><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">” to lactating and pregnant Palestinian women. </span></p><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">After
countless testimonies of deliberate shootings committed against
civilians have been emerging, in December 2023, the UN Office of the
High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) issued a </span><a href="https://www.un.org/unispal/document/unlawful-killings-in-gaza-city-ohchr-press-release/"><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">press release urging accountability</span></a><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">
and an investigation. The press release also highlighted the execution
of 11 men in front of their families in the Remal Neighbourhood of Gaza
City.</span></p><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">Yassin, a young man from Jabalia Refugee Camp, describes to </span><i><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">The Cradle</span></i><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">
how he was shot from a quadcopter drone in mid-November of 2023,
managing to survive by mere chance. Yassin says that he was traveling on
foot, using Salah al-Deen Road between Jabalia and Khan Younis, after
receiving evacuation orders from the occupation army to move south. </span></p><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">While he was fleeing, an armed clash suddenly erupted within his visual range: </span></p><blockquote><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">“I
picked up my clothes and phone and ran from the place to escape this
clash. There was a hill of sand in front of me, I jumped off it, and
some of my clothes fell. Then I found the ambulance that the enemy
[Israel] had stopped, remaining on the road.” </span></p></blockquote><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">Scared,
he said he heard calls in Arabic for him to stop running, then “I heard
the sound of the bullet, so I asked in a loud voice ‘Who was shot?’
After 10 meters, I realized this bullet had exploded inside my liver,
and I was the answer to my own question. This bullet penetrated my right
lung, then the diaphragm, then exploded in the liver.”</span></p><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">Yassin
says that the only reason he survived was because a relative happened
to be driving a nearby ambulance and acted quickly to save his life.
Yassin’s recovery has been a long and grueling journey spanning several
months, and he continues to suffer from his injuries despite evacuating
across the Rafah Crossing into Egypt.</span></p><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr"><strong>A policy of deliberate targeting </strong></span></p><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">American
surgeon Mark Perlmutter, who traveled to Gaza in order to treat wounded
Palestinians during the war, has also drawn specific attention to the
intentional targeting of children by Israeli sniper fire. “</span><a href="https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/t%C3%AAte-%C3%A0-t%C3%AAte/20241029-us-doctor-claims-israeli-snipers-target-child-in-gaza-no-child-gets-shot-twice-by-mistakea"><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">No child gets shot twice by mistake,</span></a><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">” he told </span><i><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">France 24.</span></i><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">
Perlmutter has burst into tears during several interviews while
describing how scores of children had died in front of his eyes. </span></p><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">Perlmutter’s
accounts align with the recent testimony of British doctor Nizam
Mamode, who described to UK Members of Parliament how drones would
deliberately shoot children “</span><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/gaza-war-british-surgeon-tells-mps-account-nasser-hospital"><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">day after day</span></a><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">” in Gaza. Such accounts have been emerging from foreign physicians throughout the war, with </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/02/gaza-palestinian-children-killed-idf-israel-war"><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">nine other on-the-ground doctors</span></a><span lang="EN" dir="ltr"> providing accounts of the calculated targeting of children to </span><i><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">The Guardian</span></i><span lang="EN" dir="ltr"> earlier this year.</span></p><p><i><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">The Cradle</span></i><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">
also received testimony from a Palestinian man from northern Gaza whose
brother was shot by an Israeli sniper in October during Israel’s
re-invasion. As he tried to drag his brother to safety, he was
repeatedly targeted by snipers and eventually had to watch his brother
slowly die from his wounds.</span></p><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">He
explains that they fled their homes to Gaza City, but he and his brother
decided to return when the fighting was less intense, noting that the
shooting erupted out of nowhere when they were in the Jabalia area. He
then saw his brother collapse and bleed everywhere, noting that the
bullet hit him in the middle of his body.</span></p><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr"><strong>Twisted tactics </strong></span></p><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">The accounts provided to </span><i><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">The Cradle</span></i><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">
are but a few in a long list of similar horrors that emerge on a daily
basis from the Gaza Strip. In April, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor </span><a href="https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/6271/Israeli-army-broadcasts-intimidating-sounds-to-lure,-kill,-and-forcibly-displace-civilians-in-the-Nuseirat-camp"><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">released a report </span></a><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">that
pointed out Israel’s use of intimidating sounds to scare and lure
civilians into kill zones. In the Nuseirat Refugee Camp, drones were
recorded playing the sounds of babies crying in order to draw civilians
out of their homes and into the streets so that they could be fired
upon. </span></p><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">Throughout the writing of
this piece, over a dozen eyewitnesses to shootings – including
journalists and doctors in Gaza – were consulted. All confirmed that
Israeli snipers deliberately target civilians without any justification
to instill fear that prevents people from moving freely. </span></p><p>A Palestinian doctor from northern Gaza, who requested anonymity, tells <i>The Cradle</i>, “They are shooting civilians for sport, and this is clearly deliberate; this must be the policy of the army.”</p></span></div></div></div></div>
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