A group of men, visibly afraid, raise their hands while walking down a deserted street in southern Gaza. They are trying to reach family members trapped down the street. Moments later, shots ring out and one of the men collapses. The incident, unfolding in nine videos, raises concerns about Israeli forces’ treatment of civilians in the conflict that has claimed many lives, including those of children.
The man lies on the ground after being shot in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on Monday. After the gunfire stops, locals rush to move the body. A woman screams and people gather around the body, praying and sobbing. The group takes shelter in the courtyard of a nearby university as gunfire breaks out again.
Ahmed Hijazi, who witnessed the event and filmed the videos, said that the bullets came from nearby Israeli tanks. NBC News cannot confirm Hijazi’s account, but it aligns with a report by ITV News.
The videos show Hijazi and other displaced Palestinians attempting to retrieve the wounded man, who is bleeding from his chest. The Israel Defense Forces was asked if its soldiers had fired at the men, but a spokesperson said they were “not aware of this incident” and the video was “clearly edited.”
Prior to the incident, the group of men had hoped to reunite with the some 50 family members they had been separated from. They were returning east in hopes of rescuing them from Israeli tanks. In the third video, the men begin to walk along the road towards the smoke. At least three gunshots are fired, killing the older man.
“We carried him and took him to his wife and his daughter, his family members who were waiting for him,” Hijazi said. He identified the man as a member of the Abou Sahloul family and a known apparel merchant in the community.
The incident took place just outside the walls of Al-Aqsa University on Al-Bahr Street, a few minutes walk from Al-Khair Hospital. Tents and temporary shelters line the road, formerly occupied by some of the hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians who have been seeking relative safety in the southern city of Rafah.
Under the laws of war, parties to an armed conflict must take all possible measures to distinguish between civilians and combatants, and they may target only combatants. Waving a white flag is a universally recognized symbol as an attempt to show that one is unarmed and means no harm.
