Mohammad Ali Khabisa
Gunshot wound to the head by Israeli soldiers during a protest.
Mohammad Ali Khabisa was fatally shot in the head by Israeli forces while participating in a protest on Sbeih Mountain in Beita on September 24, 2021. He was one of many Palestinians demonstrating against the presence of the illegal Israeli outpost “Avitar.” The Israeli military responded to the protest with force, including live ammunition. Mohammad was struck with a live round, and despite efforts to save him at an-Najah Hospital in Nablus, he died from the critical injury. His killing occurred amid broader, sustained suppression of protests in Beita, where dozens were also injured by rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas, and other means during the same incident.
Biography
Mohammad Ali Khabisa, 28, was a Palestinian resident of Beita town, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus. A married man and father to an eight-month-old daughter, Mohammad was an active participant in the ongoing protests against the illegal Israeli outpost established on Sbeih Mountain. On September 24, 2021, he was fatally shot in the head by Israeli soldiers during a demonstration. His death marked the eighth fatality in Beita’s months-long resistance movement, which began after settlers installed the Avitar outpost on privately-owned Palestinian land. Mohammad’s life and death reflect the deep personal and collective sacrifices made by Beita’s residents in their struggle to protect their land from annexation.
Mohammad Ali Khabisa was born in 1993 and lived in the town of Beita, located south of Nablus in the northern West Bank. He was a young husband and father, devoted to his family, particularly his infant daughter who was just eight months old at the time of his death. Mohammad was part of a community deeply involved in nonviolent resistance against the illegal Israeli settlement outpost known as Avitar, which settlers established on Sbeih Mountain—land that legally belongs to Palestinian families from Beita.
For over four months prior to his death, Beita’s residents had been staging near-daily protests against the illegal outpost. These demonstrations were met with repeated military violence from Israeli forces, leading to numerous injuries and fatalities. Mohammad became a symbol of this resistance when, on September 24, 2021, he was shot with live ammunition by Israeli soldiers during a Friday protest on the mountain. Despite being rushed to an-Najah Hospital in Nablus, he succumbed to his head wound shortly after arrival.
His death marked the eighth killing in the area since the protests began, underscoring the severe toll the community has paid in its peaceful struggle to reclaim their land. Though the settlers had temporarily evacuated the outpost in July, they left the structures intact and returned, intensifying tensions in the region.
Sources & References
Mohammad Ali Khabisa, 28, was killed by Israeli soldiers who shot him with a live round to the head, in Sbeih Mountain in Beita town, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus. Palestinian medical sources said Mohammad was shot with a live round in the head, in Sbeih Mountain, and was rushed to the an-Najah Hospital, in Nablus, where he succumbed to his very serious injuries. The slain young man is a married father of an infant girl, only eight months of age, and is the eighth to be killed in Sbeih Mountain since the protests started 140 days ago after illegal Israeli colonizers installed an outpost on private Palestinian lands.1 israelpalestinetimeline.org Open source