A Gazan with his hands raised in the air was shot dead minutes after speaking to a British journalist on Tuesday, according to ITV News.
Ramzi Abu Sahloul, a 51-year-old merchant of children’s clothes, was among a group of five men “doing their utmost to appear non-threatening” to combatants engaged in a skirmish nearby, according to John Irvine, a foreign correspondent for the network.
Irvine explained in his broadcast that the group, who were waving a large white flag, were trying to reach Abu Sahloul’s mother and brother, who were in a house near the combat zone.
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“The Israelis came to us and told us to evacuate but they didn’t let my brother out,” he told an ITV cameraman. “We want to go and try to get them, God willing.”
The 51-year-old also explained that “nowhere is safe in Gaza,” and that the Israeli army was “everywhere,” according to an ITV writeup of the report.
“They shoot at us at home, in any building and in the street,” he added.
The cameraman then walked away, according to Irvine. Moments later, as the cameraman filmed from across the street, a volley of gunfire rang out. Video aired by ITV showed the group ducking and beginning to move quickly in the opposite direction; the footage then cut to show the group gathered around a member who’d dropped to the ground.
“The interviewee had been shot and fatally wounded,” Irvine narrated over the footage.
As black smoke billowed in the background, the cameraman approached again, recording as the men covered their friend with the flag and frantically dragged him away. “As they tried to carry him to safety, there was the sound of more gunfire and the whoosh of a bullet passing nearby,” ITV’s writeup read, “suggesting the group was still being targeted.”
The party managed to procure a makeshift stretcher and get the body to “a safer place,” according to the writeup, where footage showed a larger crowd gathered. The cameraman recorded a woman—identified by Irvine as Abu Sahloul’s wife—rushing up to meet them, wailing.
The IDF told ITV News that it was unaware of the incident in question and that it had “no way” to comment on the video, which it said was “clearly edited.”
The death toll in Gaza surpassed 25,000 over the weekend, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry. Israeli authorities have indicated they intend to continue bombarding the enclave for at least several more months.
