IDF probing reservists who allegedly beat Palestinian teen, causing ‘disturbing’ injuries |
The Israel Defense Forces is investigating the conduct of reservist forces who allegedly beat a Palestinian man in the West Bank earlier this week, causing a “disturbing” amount of injuries, the military confirmed on Saturday.
The victim of the alleged attack, 18-year-old Owais Hamam, was wandering in the area near his village of Khirbet Bani Hairth, close to the Sde Ephraim farm settlement recently legalized by Israel, when his presence was reported to the military by Israeli civilians.
Hamam has said he left his village, west of Ramallah, to head toward the nearby hills to pray the Maghrib, the fourth of Islam’s five prayers, when he was approached by settlers who surrounded him, fired in the air, and beat him up with their fists and rifles. He has said he was then detained by troops who took him for an interrogation, in which he was beaten further.
The army, in its statement, shared its own description of the incident, saying that it received reports of a Palestinian suspect approaching the Israeli civilians “while shouting slogans about martyrs and expressing an intention to carry out an attack.”
A military source claimed that Hamam was suffering from a mental illness.
Soldiers of the IDF’s so-called area defense forces, known by its Hebrew acronym Hagmar — made up of local settlers in reserve duty — who were already in the area, alongside Sde Ephraim’s security coordinator, called on the man to leave, the army said.
According to the military, the reservist........