Israeli soldiers shoot and kill Palestinian Qusai Tamimi, 19, who posed no danger to anyone
21 December 2022
On 25 October 2022, at around midnight, posts about a military incursion into Nablus began appearing on social media, prompting some young men from the Palestinian village of a-Nabi Saleh in Ramallah District to gather near the military tower at the entrance to the village. Soldiers fired tear gas canisters and threw stun grenades at them, and the young men dispersed within a short time.
The army claimed that the soldiers identified a suspect throwing an explosive device at them and responded with fire. The media reported an MPIU investigation had been launched.
At around 1:30 A.M., as reports of dead and wounded in Nablus arrived, about 30 young men gathered near the home of Qusai Tamimi (19), located about 500 meters from the tower. Tamimi and two or three other young men decided to advance towards the tower. They stopped about 80 meters away from it and set tires on fire. About 10 minutes later, two other young men joined them. One of them was Maher Tamimi (26), Qusai’s brother.
A few minutes later, the soldiers fired three tear gas canisters at them. One of the men picked up a canister and threw it back, but it landed far from the tower. The young men retreated a few meters, and some of them hid in a nearby garden. Qusai stayed on the other side of the road and hid behind a dumpster. At around 2 A.M., the young men called Qusai to join them but before he could answer, one of the soldiers shot him, hitting his upper body. He was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The army claimed that the soldiers identified a suspect throwing an explosive device at them and responded with fire. The media reported an MPIU investigation had been launched.
B’Tselem field researcher Iyad Hadad collected testimonies from Qusai Tamimi’s family.
Wa’d Tamimi (26) said:
That night there were incidents in Nablus. At around 1:30 A.M., we gathered around my uncle’s house, which is near the cemetery in the center of the village. There were about 30 of us young guys, and we wanted to organize some kind of protest. Three or four guys, including Qusai Tamimi, went down to the area where the tower is. We stayed near the house. We saw them stop in front of the closed road that’s in-between a closed iron gate and the military tower. There was a military jeep parked next to the tower, as per usual. It wasn’t unusual. We didn’t see any soldiers. Some of the guys were burning tires near the gate. No one was throwing stones, and the soldiers weren’t shooting.
At around 1:40 A.M., I drove two young guys, Muhammad Tamimi and Maher Tamimi, Qusai’s brother, to where Qusai and the other guys were. I drove a little farther and parked on the side. I watched the guys standing by the burning tires. Ten minutes later, the soldiers in the tower fired gas canisters; I think three canisters. One of the guys caught one and tried to throw it back towards the tower, but it landed far away.
Qusai was standing behind a dumpster there, within the soldiers’ firing range. The rest of the guys were a few meters away from him, near Muhammad Tamimi’s garden, which is out of the soldiers’ firing range. Suddenly, about 15 minutes after the tear gas canisters were fired, I heard shooting from the direction of the tower. Qusai shouted: “My leg!” and fell down. The guys dragged him aside, and I drove over to them right away. They put Qusai in the back seat of the car and laid him on their laps. Maher collapsed and started crying. One of the guys stopped the bleeding with his hand and shouted for help. Muhammad yelled at Qusai to wake up. Qusai didn’t move or make a sound.
I sped towards the hospital in Salfit. On the way, I called the Red Crescent and asked for an ambulance. I was told on the phone that the bleeding had to be stopped and that we should make sure he didn’t move. One of the guys applied pressure with a shirt to stop the bleeding. After I had driven about two kilometers, Qusai suddenly shook and then his body went completely limp. The guys started shouting. After 10 kilometers, we met up with the Red Crescent ambulance and transferred Qusai to it. Three of the guys rode in the ambulance with him. I followed them and arrived at the hospital around 2:30 A.M. The doctors tried to resuscitate Qusai, but at 2:50 A.M. they pronounced him dead.
Muhammad Tamimi (28) said:
At 1:40 A.M., I decided to head down towards the tower too. I rode in Wa’d Tamimi’s car along with Qusai’s brother, Maher. Wa’d dropped us off and then parked close to us and stayed in the car. Qusai and some other guys had already headed towards the tower, and Maher and I joined them when they set tires on fire. No one was throwing stones or even swearing at the soldiers in the tower. We were standing more than 70 meters away from the tower. Shortly after we arrived, the soldiers in the tower fired three gas canisters in our direction. One of the guys tried to throw a canister back, but it didn’t reach the tower and fell far from it. Meanwhile, I saw three soldiers hiding behind the concrete blocks next to the tower. We all hid in Muhammad Tamimi’s garden, because it’s not in the soldiers’ direct range of fire and is safer.
Qusai wasn’t with us. He was standing a few meters across from us, hiding behind a dumpster. At around 2:00 A.M., I asked Qusai if he had his phone because my battery was almost dead. He asked why, and I answered that I wanted to film the soldiers. Qusai told me he didn’t have his phone. We usually film these incidents. Maher was standing next to me, and I heard him tell Qusai to come join us because it was safer. Just then, live fire was shot straight at Qusai, and he fell down and didn’t move. He was lying in a fetal position with his legs under him.
I ran over to him with Maher and another guy. At first, I saw a smile on Qusai’s face and thought he was kidding around. I heard him say: “My legs” and I thought he was hurt in the leg. We picked him up and took him to the garden where we’d been hiding before. We laid him down on the ground, and one of the guys tried to check his legs but saw nothing. I felt something warm dripping from his armpit area, I don’t remember on which side, and we realized it was blood. We called Wa’d to tell him to come over and saw he was already driving our way. We put Qusai in the back seat of the car and laid him on our laps. I sat in the middle and talked to him so he would stay awake. It didn’t help. I tried to press on the wound, but it was difficult for me to locate it while driving. I pressed my shirt on one of the places where he was bleeding, under the armpit.
After we’d gone about two or three kilometers, Qusai suddenly trembled and then his body went completely limp. We didn’t give up and kept driving until we met up with the ambulance Wa’d had called on the way. We immediately transferred him to the ambulance and Maher, another guy and I went with him. One of the paramedics did CPR. I heard him say the heart was dead, but he kept on trying to resuscitate him. When we got to the hospital, the doctors and nurses also started CPR. They tried for 10 or 15 minutes, but it didn’t help and Qusai didn’t respond. They told me he was dead.