Contradictory accounts have emerged over the fatal shooting of an 18-year-old Palestinian student, Hadeel al-Hashlamon, by Israeli forces at a checkpoint in the West Bank city of Hebron on Tuesday morning, after she allegedly pulled a knife on the soldiers.
Questions over the precise circumstances have been raised by a series of images depicting much of the lethal encounter, including whether a group of heavily armed soldiers wearing body armour acted appropriately in shooting the young woman several times.
She died later from injuries, which family members say included gunshot wounds to her abdomen, despite initial claims by the Israeli military that she was shot in the legs.
According to the Israeli military, Hashlamon was shot after pulling a knife on the soldiers at around 8am at the so-called Container checkpoint near the flashpoint of Shuhada Street in Hebron.
“From the preliminary review regarding this morning’s incident in Hebron, the perpetrator approached the checkpoint and the metal detector was activated, alerting the troops’ suspicion,” the Israel defence forces said in a statement.
“Forces at the scene asked the perpetrator to stop, at which point she approached the forces, disregarding the instructions and raising further suspicion. Forces called for her to halt, which she ignored, and she continued moving while also pulling out a knife.
“At this point, forces fired at the ground, then at her lower extremities in attempts to stop her advancement. The perpetrator continued and at this point, recognising a clear and present danger to their safety, the forces fired towards her.”
However, Palestinian eyewitnesses and foreign activists from a local group called Youth Against Settlements have contradicted that story.
Issa Amro, one of the activists who took some of the pictures told the Guardian that a soldier appeared to ask Hashlamon something as she held her bag out from under her hijab.
“She had just come through the metal detector at the checkpoint,” Amro said. “The soldier asked to search her. She didn’t want to be searched by a male soldier and went back to exit from the checkpoint.”
Hashlamon then attempted to walk back out of the exit, said Amro, as one soldier in a kippa covered her with his rifle while another – with a radio on his back – moved towards her.
At one point a Palestinian man in a striped shirt – who Amro said he spoke to after the event – is visible in the pictures trying to speak to the young woman, whose arms, in all the images, are not raised.
“The man was speaking to her, encouraging her to go back. He told me afterwards she seemed frozen with fear,” continued Amro. “You see the soldier wearing the kippa hold up his hand. He is telling others at the checkpoint not to enter.”
The images suggest Hashlamon turned to face a soldier with a radio – who according to eyewitnesses was a commander – who approached from the left from the photographer’s point of view. Hashlamon is seen both facing the Palestinian man, who has spoken to her, and turning to face the soldier with the radio.
It is what happened next that is one of several disputed points.
The Israeli military said the images did not include the moment when they say Hashlamon pulled out a knife. They did not supply images of her with the knife when asked.
“The attacker attempted to stab a soldier,” an Israeli army spokeswoman told al-Jazeera, explaining that the unidentified soldier – who was not injured – then opened fire.
According to Amro it was the soldier with the radio who fired first, followed by others. The next images show Hashlamon on the ground, her jeans visible and a blood stain on one hip. No images have been released showing the moment of the shooting.
Another point at which the two accounts diverge is in the claim that Hashlamon was given immediate medical treatment. Instead video that appears to have been taken at the scene shows what seems to be the injured student being pulled roughly by her legs by a soldier from under the barrier where she had fallen.
“We took footage of her bag afterwards,” said Amro, claiming its only contents were two mobile phones and two books. A photograph supplied by a press spokesman of the Israel defence forces however showed a knife on the ground with a blue and yellow handle.
A European pro-Palestinian activist also present at the shooting gave a similar account to Amro in an interview with the New York Times.
The activist – who asked not to be identified – said a soldier had asked Hashlamoun to open her bag for inspection.
“When she was opening at her bag, he began shouting: ‘Stop! Stop! Stop! Don’t move! Don’t move!’” the activist told the paper. “She was trying to show him what was inside her bag, but the soldier shot her once, and then shot her again.”
Images released by Youth Against Settlements
