Israeli Troops Kill 21-Year-Old Palestinian Medic on Gaza Border

Razan Najjar killed while providing first aid to injured protesters

A 21-year-old Palestinian woman, Razan al-Najjar, was shot and killed by Israeli snipers Friday during weekly protests at the Gaza border. Najjar is a paramedic who was treating wounded protesters at the time the snipers shot her.

Razan Najjar

Najjar was the lone death reported on Friday, with in excess of 100 protesters wounded. At least 40 of those protesters were wounded by live fire from Israeli troops. While protest crackdowns are usually heavily covered in the Israeli press, today’s incident was only sparsely covered.

This is likely because while Israeli media generally focuses on lionizing the killings as part of a fight against “terror,” the death of a paramedic shot by snipers is particularly embarrassing. So far, the Israeli government hasn’t offered any statement on the killing, but the army said they were “looking into” that matter.

Najjar had been a volunteer paramedic for some time, and there were a number of photographs of her treating wounded Gazans circulating around. This makes her a much higher profile victim of Israeli violence than most, and will likely add to regional anger about Israel’s actions in Gaza.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.