'Israeli forces wanted to kill me like in Floyd case'

TULKARM, Palestine

An elderly Palestinian man said Israeli soldiers tried to kill him the way US police murdered Black American George Floyd.

Narrating the details of his abuse by Israeli soldiers during a rally condemning settlement in northern occupied West Bank, Khariy Hanoun, 64, described the incident as an "immoral act by the Israeli force."

Anadolu Agency’s photojournalists Tuesday documented the attack against Hanoun during a rally denouncing a settlement project on the lands of the Tulkarm city of the West Bank.

Palestinian activists were able to get Hanoun released after he was detained by the Israeli forces where he was bruised.

Hours after the incident, Palestinian activists transmitted photos of the elderly Hanoun lying on the ground, while an Israeli soldier was kneeling on his neck, similar to how the Black American was killed.

Floyd was suffocated to death on May 25, when an American policeman crouched on his neck during his arrest in the US state of Minneapolis.

Talking to Anadolu Agency, he said: "We went to defend our land and confront a settlement project. We do not carry weapons. We carry the Palestinian flag, with our bodies and our voice in the face of an army with bombs and bullets."

"I found myself lying on the ground and an Israeli soldier crouched on my neck. I was paralyzed and remembered the incident of the killing of the Black American at the hands of a white policeman," he said, referring to Floyd.

The accident occurred during an event held on the lands of the towns of Shofa and Jabara, south of Tulkarm, where Israeli military vehicles have been leveling lands for several weeks.

Residents say the Israeli authorities informed them last year of their intention to confiscate around 197 acres of land to establish an industrial zone.

According to Palestinian reports, the pace of settlement construction in the West Bank is accelerating while Israeli and Palestinian estimates indicate that there are about 650,000 settlers in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem, residing in 164 settlements and 116 outposts.

* Bassel Barakat contributed to this report from Ankara