Thousands of Palestinians participate in the funeral of Razan al-Najjar, nurse killed by Israeli forces
Thousands of Palestinians, many dressed in white medical uniforms, took part on Saturday in the funeral of a nurse who was shot dead at the Israel-Gaza border.
Razan al-Najjar is known to the world as the 21-year-old Palestinian medical nurse shot dead by an Israeli sniper during protests on Friday.
To her parents, she was a beloved daughter who died just a few hundred meters from her home in Khan Younis, close to the fence that separates Gaza from Israel.
Razan’s mother, Sabreen, said Razan had been volunteering since the beginning of the protests, working without pay. “I was afraid for her, but Razan told us she wasn’t afraid, she felt obliged to help and was clearly wearing a medical vest,” she says.
The Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRC) said three other first responders were hit by Israeli fire on Friday and that Najjar was shot “as she was attempting to provide first aid to an injured protester.”
“Shooting at medical personnel is a war crime under the Geneva conventions,” the PMRC said in a statement. It called for “an immediate international response to Israeli humanitarian law violations in Gaza.”
The Israeli military said on Saturday that it would investigate her death but that its troops worked “in accordance with standard operating procedures.”
More than 115 people have been killed since protests began on the border at the end of March, but Najjar is only the second woman to die. The first was a teenage protester.
