Israeli soldiers filmed throwing tear gas into Palestinian home and slashing car tyres

New footage captured by human rights group Btselem shows Israeli soldiers targeting the home of a Palestinian protest organiser with tear gas and slashing tyres of a nearby car.

The videos, published by Haaretz, show scenes in the West Bank village of Kafr Qaddum after Israeli soldiers entered the town during its weekly protest against the expansion of a nearby settlement, which will block off one of the key roads connecting the village to Nablus.

In one of the clips, a soldier is seen walking down an empty street to a car. The soldier then kneels and slashes the vehicle's tyres, later joined by three more troops.

In a second clip, a group of five soldiers stands outside a house on another empty street, throwing two tear gas canisters at the first floor of the house. As the canisters ignite with smoke, the soldiers walk away.

The house belongs to Murad Shetewi, the head organiser of the weekly protest.

Shetewi told Haaretz that the canisters landed on the porch of his house while his wife and five children were inside. They required first aid for gas inhalation. 



He added that tear gas has been thrown at his house "many times" in recent years, and that his tyres have been slashed twice in the past month.

Shetewi  pointed out that the protest was not happening anywhere near the house, and that he does not take part in any demonstrations for health reasons.

"I'm not even close to where the protest took place, I don't understand why they did it," he told Haaretz. "He slashed four of my tires. Each one costs about 200 shekels ($57), where am I supposed to get that money?"



Btselem has been documenting what it says is the deliberate targeting of water tanks belonging to homes in Kafr Qaddum during army incursions that accompany the weekly protests.

Due to water shortages in the Palestinian territories, most homes are equipped with rooftop storage tanks. Btselem said that since the beginning of April, 24 water tanks have been damaged in the villages, some more than once, causing residents to lose huge amounts of water.

"The damage to the water tanks is sheer abuse and constitutes an illegal act of collective punishment," Btselem said on its website. "As residents now have to follow strict hygienic measures, including frequent handwashing, due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, this conduct is even graver."

"Nevertheless, the shootings have continued unabated for several weeks. This indicates that rather than the random initiative of a particular soldier, this conduct that is at least condoned by the commanders on the ground, in blatant disregard for residents’ lives and property," it added.


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