Border Police shot and killed 32-year-old special needs student Iyad AlHala, a resident of the Wadi al-Joz in east Jerusalem, while he was on his way to school on Saturday morning, Israel Police said in a statement.
According to the statement, police officers who were stationed near Jerusalem’s Lion’s Gate noticed a young man holding a “suspicious object,” that they claim looked like a gun, and told him to stop in his tracks, after which the man began to flee.
Border Police chased the man on foot, during which they fired at him, resulting in his death. After the chase, police searched the area for the “suspicious object” which was allegedly in the man’s hand, but never found it. Following the incident, the gates to the old city have been closed by Jerusalem police, fearing of protests. The Temple of the Mount is scheduled to reopen tomorrow.
An initial investigation has been opened into the matter and a report has been filed to the Department of Police Investigations (DIP) in the Prosecutor’s Office following the shooting.
MK Ofer Kassif of the Joint List said following the man’s death that “the incident today in Jerusalem can only be defined as murder by police officers.” According to Kassif, Israel’s government shares some of the blame for the incident. “The incitement from the government’s corridors has worked as planned and now every Palestinian is a terrorist until proven otherwise. ‘Terrorists’ are executed even when lying on the ground or running for their lives,” he said. “The real terror is military rule, occupation, which promises to continue to pour blood here every day,” Kassif concluded.
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