Norwegian Palestine-solidarity activist Kristin Foss was shot twice in a week by Israeli soldiers. The first time she was shot whilst standing with her hands raised, and the second occurred when she was standing against a wall.
Foss was standing still with her hands raised when she was shot in Kafr Qaddum during a weekly demonstration last Saturday. Video taken by Foss captures the moment she was hit.
Foss and another activist were walking with an elderly Palestinian man who asked them to help him get back to his car which the soldiers were using as a shield. International activists often attend Palestinian protests in a bid to discourage Israelis from using excessive force.
The man was talking to the soldiers and Foss and the other activist were filming from a distance. A soldier tells Foss it is dangerous and she responds: “It’s dangerous that you’re pointing a gun at us,” as a shot is fired. Seconds later, another shot is heard and Foss is hit in the abdomen.
Israeli soldiers shot Norwegian activist Kristin Foss in the stomach. Then they shot her again in the foot–all in the same week https://t.co/iTssv8CQIy pic.twitter.com/tKbj6BEHLy
— The IMEU (@theIMEU) August 28, 2018
The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said last week it had asked the Israeli authorities to explain the circumstances, VG reports.
Foss, who is an International Solidarity Movement volunteer, returned to the village the next Friday to support demonstrators. The weekly protests at Kafr Qaddum are to demonstrate against the closure of a road which has been closed to Palestinians for seven years, forcing them to travel more than 14 km (9 miles) to reach the regional capital of Nablus.
‘We don’t shoot women’ — but Kristin Foss is shot for second time in a week in Palestine – Mondoweiss https://t.co/MRItVo7icW
— Jennie Bloom (@COMRADEBLOOM) August 27, 2018
In a video, filmed before she was shot, she said that although the demonstrations had not started, the Israeli Army had already “invaded the town.”
Foss was leaning against a wall “well behind” the demonstrations when she was shot in the ankle by a rubber bullet, she told RT.
When she was in an ambulance with another man who had been shot in the shoulder, they had to turn back after another person was shot in the head.
The Israeli army shot a Palestine boy and injured him. He is in the hospital. This little Palestinian child is crying of pain, he was shot Zionist occupation soldiers using rubber coated metal bullets, while suppressing Kufr Qaddom village protest, 24 August 2018. pic.twitter.com/n3k33jKJVW
— H@@M (@haam76) August 26, 2018
Foss said in a statement:
“Thousands of Palestinians have been shot this year alone. By rubber-coated steel bullets and by live ammunition. Palestinians get shot for the crime of demonstrating for their basic human rights—or simply for the ‘crime of being born Palestinian’. Whilst my case has been blown up in media, theirs go unnoticed.”
While rubber-coated steel bullets are seen as non-lethal, the injuries they inflict can be catastrophic, particularly when fired at close range.
(RT, PC, Social Media)
