Ramallah: Twenty-eight year old Jordanian national Saeed Hayel Al Amro was among the many victims of a recent spate of Israeli soldier shootings.
Since Thursday at least five Palestinians have been shot dead by Israel claiming that they were attacking soldiers.
Palestinians rejected the claims saying the shootings were unprovoked and part of an Israeli practice of extrajudicial killings.
But Saeed’s murder on Friday, at the Damascus Gate of occupied Jerusalem’s Old City, was a particularly tragic one, as his last post on social media revealed his excitement at travelling to occupied Jerusalem and praying at the Al Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam.
In an interview with the Ramallah radio station, Saeed’s brother Abdullah said his brother was murdered in cold blood.
Abdullah said he heard from several eyewitnesses where were there at the time of his brother’s murder, who told him in detail how the events unfolded.
“An Israeli woman soldier of African origin shouted at him [Saeed] to open his backpack in Hebrew. My brother did not speak Hebrew and did not understand the orders. She opened fire on him shooting Saeed with eight bullets in different parts of his body,” he said.
Saeed worked at a water company in the southern Jordanian town of Al Karak. He arrived to occupied Jerusalem on Thursday evening as part of a larger organised tour group of Jordanian and Arab visitors.
The Jordanian Foreign Ministry immediately condemned Saeed’s killing calling it a “barbaric” act.
They rejected the Israeli claim that he attempted to stab the female soldier.
In Jordan, various political parties called for the closure of the Israeli Embassy in Amman in response to Saeed’s murder.
Two weeks ago, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry asked the US to intervene after the recent spate of Israeli extrajudicial killings.
International legal and human rights organisations have documented Israel’s practice of extrajudicial executions among other crimes contrary to international law.
