Habes Abdul-Hafith Rayyan
He was killed by Israeli soldiers
Habes Abdul-Hafith Rayyan, a 54-year-old Palestinian civilian from Beit Duqqu, met his death under contested circumstances at an Israeli military checkpoint near Beit 'Ur al-Tahta on November 2, 2022. While the Israeli military maintains that lethal force was justified, the exact sequence of events remains shrouded in conflicting narratives and unanswered questions.
Biography
Habes Abdul-Hafith Rayyan, a 54-year-old Palestinian man from Beit Duqqu, a town northwest of occupied Jerusalem, was killed by Israeli soldiers on November 2, 2022, at a military roadblock west of Ramallah in the central occupied West Bank. According to the Israeli army, Rayyan allegedly rammed his car into soldiers at the checkpoint, seriously injuring one soldier, before exiting his vehicle with a sharp object. A soldier on the ground then fired multiple shots, killing him. The wounded Israeli soldier, who suffered limb injuries, was evacuated to Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem in critical condition with multi-system trauma.
Habes Abdul-Hafith Rayyan, a 54-year-old Palestinian man from Beit Duqqu, a town northwest of occupied Jerusalem, was killed by Israeli soldiers on November 2, 2022, at a military roadblock west of Ramallah in the central occupied West Bank. According to the Israeli army, Rayyan allegedly rammed his car into soldiers at the checkpoint, seriously injuring one soldier, before exiting his vehicle with a sharp object. A soldier on the ground then fired multiple shots, killing him. The wounded Israeli soldier, who suffered limb injuries, was evacuated to Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem in critical condition with multi-system trauma.
Rayyan was the father of two sons associated with the Islamic Jihad movement: Qussai Rayyan, who was abducted by Israeli forces in September 2022 and remained imprisoned at the time of his father’s death, and Assem Rayyan, a former political prisoner. Despite his sons' affiliations, Habes himself was not known to have any political involvement. His death occurred just days after an
Sources & References
On November 2, 2022, Israeli forces shot and killed 54-year-old Habes Abdul-Hafith Rayyan at a military checkpoint west of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli military claimed that Rayyan had rammed his car into soldiers, seriously injuring one, before exiting his vehicle allegedly carrying a sharp object. A soldier on the ground then opened fire, killing him. The wounded Israeli soldier, who suffered limb injuries, was evacuated to Jerusalem's Shaare Zedek Hospital in critical condition. Rayyan, a resident of Beit Duqqu northwest of Jerusalem, was the father of two sons linked to Islamic Jihad—one imprisoned by Israel and another a former detainee—though he himself had no known political affiliation. His death came just days after another fatal incident near Jericho, where Israeli forces killed a 49-year-old Palestinian man in what they described as a car-ramming attack. The circumstances of both incidents remain contested amid the ongoing violence in the occupied territories.1 israelpalestinetimeline.org Open source