On November 4, 2018, the Be’er Sheva District Court delivered it’s judgment in a case jointly filed by Al Mezan Center for Human Rights and Adalah (plaintiffs). It ruled that Israel is not liable for damages for the shooting and serious wounding of the 15-year-old Palestinian boy Attiya al-Nabaheen in the Gaza Strip in 2014, and that Gaza Palestinians are not entitled to seek compensation for damages from Israel as they live in an “enemy entity.”

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Attiya was fired at by Israeli forces on November 11, 2014, while he was on his family’s property near a refugee camp located half a kilometre away from the security border fence with Israel. The shooting caused permanent injury; Attiya is permanently paralyzed in all four of his limbs and is confined to a wheelchair. By bringing this case, he and his family sought damages from the Israeli army.

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Plaintiffs claimed the unconstitutionality of Article 5/B-1 of Amendment #8 of the Civil Wrongs Law (State Responsibility) of 1952, providing that residents of a territory declared by the Israeli government as “enemy territory”—as Gaza was declared in 2007—are not eligible to seek compensation from Israel. However, the court upheld upholding the constitutionality of this in 2012 amended act and accordingly found that the state of Israel is not liable for damages for the shooting and Attiya’s serious wounding.

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The court ruling is available in Hebrew here.

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Al Mezan and Adalah have announced that they will appeal to Israeli Supreme Court.

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Case Citation: C.C (Beer Sheva’) 45043-05-16 A.N. (minor) et al. v. The State of Israel

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