Salah Tawfiq Sawafta

Their life

Salah Tawfiq Sawafta was a 58-year-old Palestinian man from the city of Tubas in the northeastern West Bank. Known in his community as a devout and respected figure, Salah was tragically killed by Israeli forces on August 19, 2022, shortly after completing morning prayers at the local mosque. As he walked alone toward a nearby bakery, wearing his traditional jalabiya, an Israeli sniper shot him in the forehead. Salah was critically injured and rushed to two hospitals for emergency treatment, but he succumbed to his wounds later that morning. His killing occurred just days before his daughter’s planned wedding.

Salah Tawfiq Mohammed Sawafta, aged 58, was a lifelong resident of Tubas, a city in the northeastern part of the occupied West Bank. On the morning of August 19, 2022, at around 5:45 a.m., Israeli forces entered Tubas and positioned snipers on the roof of the city’s four-story public prosecution building. Their operation targeted a neighboring home linked to a university student. At the same time, Salah was leaving the Old Mosque in the al-Kharraz neighborhood following dawn prayers and was heading to al-Sarraj bakery, roughly 150 meters from the sniper's position.

Wearing a traditional jalabiya and walking calmly, Salah emerged from a side alley and stepped onto the main road. Without warning or provocation, an Israeli sniper fired a live round into the right side of Salah’s forehead. A surveillance camera later confirmed he was unarmed, posed no threat, and was simply trying to reach the bakery. He collapsed at the bakery’s entrance. Medics quickly arrived and rushed him to Tubas Turkish Hospital, which th

How they died

He was gunshot wound to the forehead, fired by an Israeli sniper.

Salah Sawafta died from a fatal gunshot wound to the forehead, inflicted by an Israeli sniper as he exited a mosque and walked alone toward a bakery. The bullet entered the right side of his forehead, causing massive cranial trauma. Despite undergoing emergency surgery at two hospitals, his condition was beyond recovery. Medical and video evidence confirmed that Salah was unarmed, posed no threat, and was not near any active clashes, making the use of deadly force unjustified.

Why we remember them

This record exists so that Salah Tawfiq Sawafta, and all who are named in this archive, are never reduced to a number.

References & sources