Wafaa Jarrar: ‘Human Shield’ Survivor Succumbs to Her Death

She died a martyr for freedom. Wafaa Jarrar will be remembered for her stiff resistance to Israeli occupation which used her as a human shield that led to the amputation of her two legs and final death.

The 50-year-old wounded and liberated prisoner Wafaa Jarrar died Monday, two months after she was critically injured last May, succumbing to her wounds because of Israeli neglect and deliberate negligence.

 “We mourn the icon of loyalty and giving, our beloved mother, the patient and steadfast prisoner, the wounded and martyr Wafaa Nayef Zahdi Jarrar “Umm Hudhayfah”…as she joins the ranks of martyrs and leaders in the Battle of the Flood of Al-Aqsa,” the Jarar family said in a statement, and as reported in the Palestine Information Center.

“More than two months after her injury and the amputation of both of her legs, the occupation army arrested her from her home in Al-Marah neighborhood Jenin on 05-21-2024,” the statement added.

The Israeli occupation forces arrested Jarrar from her home on 21 May during their aggression on Jenin and its two camps. The occupation later announced she was injured, transferred her to the Israeli Afula Hospital and an four-month administrative detention order was issued against her.

The serious injuries she sustained led to the amputation of her legs above the knee, and other injuries to her body and which lead to many other health problems.

Following the deterioration of her health, the Israeli occupation evaded treating her; they cancelled her administrative detention order, released her, and refused to continue her treatment in Israeli hospitals.

In a previous statement the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor held the Israeli occupation army fully responsible for the life and safety of Ms. Wafaa Nayef Jarrar. It noted the Israeli army arrested and detained her for four hours in a dangerous area where clashes were taking place, deliberately exposing her life to direct danger.

The Monitor explained what she was subjected to from the moment of her arrest until her release reflecting the repeated and systematic pattern Palestinians, men and women, face when arrested by the Israeli army in the occupied Palestinian territories.

It includes arbitrary arrests, abuse, their use as human shields, torture, and denial of medical care, and Israeli army’s evasion of responsibility for their harm and suffering resulting from its crimes and violations it inflicted against them.

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor explained it followed up on Israeli army’s arrest of Ms. Jarrar on May 21, from her home in Jenin, north West Bank, and subsequent announcement she had been seriously injured in an explosion inside the Israeli military vehicle she was detained in for four hours and then the administrative detention order issued against her before handing her over to the Palestinian liaison despite her critical health condition and loss of consciousness.

The Monitor confirmed this is an attempt by the Israeli army to evade its responsibility for the serious injuries she sustained during her detention, which led to the amputation of her legs and damage to her lungs and spine, and to evade its legal obligations related to providing her with medical care and necessary treatment.

The Monitor further confirmed Ms. Jarrar’s arrest was arbitrary. It stated there was no reason to justify her arrest, coming within the context of individual and collective arrest campaigns by the Israeli army against Palestinians wherever they are found.

It added the Israeli army made this arrest in a violent manner, storming her house, destroying most of its contents, and looting all the money and jewelry inside the house and which Ms. Jarrar’s family has not recovered up till now.

The Monitor confirmed the Israeli army had not directly taken Ms Jarrar to a detention but instead to a dangerous military area of operations with exchange of fire and where explosive devices were thrown at its vehicles and the jeep she was in.

This indicates the Israeli army deliberately decided to keep her there knowing full well this would expose her to the risk of death and/or injury.

It appears the Israeli army was trying to exploit Ms. Jarrar’s presence in the area of ​​its military attack on Jenin, to facilitate its military operations and shield and fortify its personnel and military vehicles.

Ms. Jarrar is a local activist and coordinator of the Jenin Association of Martyrs and Prisoners, and a mother of four children. Her husband, 58-year-old Abdul Jabbar Muhammad Ahmad Jarrar has been detained since 7 February, 2024, on a sixth-month administrative detention order. He previously spent 16 years in Israeli prisons.

Wafaa Jarar was an active community worker, launching the Mothers of Martyrs Gathering in Jenin and expanding to include other areas in the West Bank. She was also one of the candidates on the Jerusalem is Our Date list for the legislative elections that was scheduled to be held in 2021.

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Israeli Army Shoots At UN Convoy – UNRWA Chief

The UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini posted on his official X account of heavy shooting from the Israeli Forces at a UN convoy heading to Gaza City.

“While there are no casualties, our teams had to duck and take cover.

This took place yesterday and the teams were traveling in clearly marked UN armoured cars and wearing UN vests,” Lazzarini stated.

“One vehicle received at least five bullets while waiting just ahead of the Israeli Forces’ checkpoint south of Wadi Gaza.

The car was severely damaged, it left the convoy. The teams re-assembled and finally reached Gaza City.”

Like all other similar UN movements, this movement was coordinated and approved by the Israeli Authorities.

Humanitarian aid workers are #NOTaTarget Those responsible must be held accountable, his post added.

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Israeli Army Admits Leaving Down Syndrome Man to Die After Mauled by Dog

The Israeli army admitted that Muhammed Bhar, a Palestinian man with Down syndrome who died after being attacked and injured by an army dog, was abandoned by its soldiers.

This admission comes two weeks after Middle East Eye reported on Bhar’s death following an Israeli raid on his family home in Al-Shuja’iyya neighborhood of eastern Gaza City on July 3. His full story was covered by Middle East Eye.

An army spokesperson told the Israeli newspaper +972 and other outlets over the weekend that soldiers abandoned Bhar to treat Israeli soldiers wounded nearby, as he claimed.

“The force that was treating the person who was bitten in the apartment had to leave to provide treatment to the injured soldiers,” the spokesperson said.

“At this point, the person remains, most likely, alone in the building.” he added.

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60 Bodies Found in Al-Shja’iya After Israeli Pull Out

As Palestinians return to the heavily devastated neighborhood of Al-Shja’iya they discovered bodies of civilians in the streets and under the rubble of their homes, as Israeli occupation forces have systematically detonated thousands of buildings in the area.

Over 60 bodies have been discovered in Al-Shja’iya following the Israeli troop withdrawal from the area. They had been there for nearly two weeks.

“Dozens of bodies are still trapped under the rubble in the neighborhood,” Palestinian Civil Defence Agency spokesman Mahmoud Basal told a press conference.

He said Israeli forces destroyed more than 85% of the residential buildings in the neighborhood. “Shejaiya has become a disaster area that is not suitable for habitation,” he added.

The Israeli airstrikes and ground operations decimated more than 85% of residential buildings in Shujaiya, maakin the area uninhabitable and akin to a devastated wasteland.

A medical clinic that served over 60,000 citizens was also destroyed, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis, the Palestinian news agency, Wafa, reported

Palestinians started returning to their ruined homes in the  devastated Shuja’iyya following an Israeli invasion of the area, during which Israeli forces destroyed most of its buildings and all of its infrastructure, rendering it uninhabitable.

Despite their withdrawal from the Shuja’iyya, Wednesday, Israeli forces continued to bomb the area the following day. Shuja’iyya lies to the east of Gaza City.

The withdrawal of Israeli forces revealed a staggering level of destruction, reducing the neighborhood to rubble. Entire residential blocks have been leveled, streets obliterated, and critical infrastructure targeted throughout the area, Wafa reported.

Eyewitnesses from the neighborhood recounted harrowing tales of Israeli forces firing upon civilians as they attempted to evacuate, despite designated exit routes.

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Little Boy Dies of Starvation in Gaza

Six-year-old Hikmat Badr died Monday, because of malnutrition and Israeli-induced starvation. He is just one of many children in Gaza to have died over the nine months of the Israeli genocide.

His frail body eventually gave up and he died in Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al Balah in central Gaza with news of his death all over the social media.

Hikmat was brought down here with his uncle and mother from the north of Gaza seeking food whilst his father stayed up north.

“We came here “in the hope of getting the necessary medical care and essential nourishment for Hikmat,” his uncle Ahmad Badr told Anadolu.

Badr said the Israeli army told him there would be food down here, but when they came  there was surprised to find there was nothing.

Last month, Dr. Husam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, announced the tragic deaths of four children due to severe malnutrition as reported by the Turkish news agency.

Abu Safiya revealed that the hospital had witnessed over 250 cases of malnutrition among children within just two weeks.

“Gaza faces a genuine health catastrophe, one that begins with children but could ultimately affect adults as well,” he warned.

One wrote “the death of the child Hikmat Badr due to malnutrition and dehydration, as a result of the siege and aggression of the Israeli occupation supported by the United States, Britain, Germany and France on the Gaza Strip. Do not forget, do not forgive.”

Yet another emphasized in Spanish “the Palestinian boy, Hikmat Badr, aged 6, died of hunger …due to the policy of extermination by starvation carried out by the Zionist army. In the last 48 hours, 2 Palestinian children have died from malnutrition… but you won’t see it on TV.”

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