{"id":90161,"date":"2025-08-19T19:30:57","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T16:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/?p=90161"},"modified":"2025-08-19T15:56:35","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T12:56:35","slug":"east-jerusalem-youths-drown-in-jaffa-anger-at-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/east-jerusalem-youths-drown-in-jaffa-anger-at-police\/","title":{"rendered":"East Jerusalem youths drown in Jaffa, anger at police"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"gmail_default\">\n<p data-start=\"421\" data-end=\"1037\">The funeral of Amin Khalil Zaarour and Baha Shweiki, two young Palestinians from the town of Silwan in East Jerusalem, was held during the night between Monday and Tuesday. The procession set out from Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount to the old Muslim cemetery of Yusufiya near the Lions\u2019 Gate \u2014 and turned into a heated demonstration of solidarity by hundreds of participants with the pain of the families. The families claim that the deaths were not only a tragic result of drowning off Jaffa\u2019s coast, but at least partly also the outcome of alleged reckless and unprofessional conduct by a police patrol boat<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1039\" data-end=\"1194\">Jerusalem district police forces present at the scene showed restraint and refrained from intervening in the funeral procession despite the fiery chants<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-media-max-width=\"560\">\n<p dir=\"rtl\" lang=\"ar\">\u0627\u0644\u0623\u0647\u0627\u0644\u064a \u064a\u0634\u0627\u0631\u0643\u0648\u0646 \u0641\u0649 \u062a\u0634\u064a\u064a\u0639 \u062c\u062b\u0627\u0645\u064a\u0646 \u0627\u0644\u0634\u0627\u0628\u064a\u0646 \u0628\u0647\u0627\u0621 \u0634\u0648\u064a\u0643\u064a \u0648\u0623\u0645\u064a\u0646 \u0632\u0639\u0631\u0648\u0631 \u0645\u0646 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0633\u062c\u062f \u0627\u0644\u0623\u0642\u0635\u0649 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0628\u0627\u0631\u0643 \u0639\u0642\u0628 \u0648\u0641\u0627\u062a\u0647\u0645\u0627 \u064a\u0648\u0645 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u0628\u062a \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0627\u0636\u064a \u0625\u062b\u0631 \u0627\u0646\u0642\u0644\u0627\u0628 \u0642\u0627\u0631\u0628 \u0642\u0628\u0627\u0644\u0629 \u0634\u0648\u0627\u0637\u0626 \u064a\u0627\u0641\u0627 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/gg51gb7JvB\">pic.twitter.com\/gg51gb7JvB<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 \u0627\u0644\u0642\u0633\u0637\u0644 \u0627\u0644\u0625\u062e\u0628\u0627\u0631\u064a (@AlQastalps) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AlQastalps\/status\/1957508854800933141?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 18, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"1196\" data-end=\"1245\">Investigation into the Jaffa beach drowning<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"1247\" data-end=\"1819\">The incident occurred on Saturday, August 16, 2025: the two youths, Amin Khalil Zaarour and Baha Shweiki, residents of Silwan in East Jerusalem, entered the water at Al-Aliya beach in Jaffa. The two, relatives, were part of a group of five young men who got into distress in the sea and began to drown. Family members and beachgoers initially tried to help, and later a police marine boat was called to the scene. After rescue efforts, the deaths of Zaarour and Shweiki were pronounced. Two others were injured, one seriously to moderately, while the fifth was unharmed<\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"1821\" data-end=\"1879\">Families\u2019 allegations of alleged police recklessness<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"1881\" data-end=\"2105\">The incident has sparked major controversy, with the families claiming that the deaths and injuries were caused at least in part by the propeller of the police boat, while the police insist the case is under investigation<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2107\" data-end=\"2419\">Relatives quoted in social media and Palestinian news outlets made severe accusations against the police conduct. A family member told the press: <em data-start=\"2253\" data-end=\"2320\">\u201cThis is not just a case of drowning, but killing by the police.\u201d<\/em> He added that the boat allegedly approached at excessive speed and recklessly struck the youths<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1782\" data-end=\"2100\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">(<a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/celebrated-too-soon-jerusalem-bus-attacker-back-in-prison\/\">Celebrated too soon \u2013 Jerusalem bus attacker back in prison<\/a>)<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2421\" data-end=\"2792\">Ibrahim Shweiki, the victims\u2019 uncle, said the boat allegedly hit the two youths, and one of the injured even claimed a policeman pushed him back into the water when he tried to cling to the boat. The families further claimed they were asked to sign a document absolving the police of responsibility as a condition for releasing the bodies for burial \u2014 and they refused<\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"2794\" data-end=\"2848\">Israel Police responds: case under investigation<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"2850\" data-end=\"3330\">Israel Police issued a statement expressing \u201cdeep sorrow over the loss of life and condolences to the family.\u201d The police confirmed there is suspicion that one of the youths was struck by the marine boat\u2019s propeller due to high waves at the scene, but avoided addressing the families\u2019 claims of alleged reckless conduct. The police emphasized the matter is under thorough investigation and said no further details could be provided at this stage so as not to hinder the inquiry<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Footage from the funeral from Al-Aqsa to the Yusufiya cemetery after the Jaffa drowning \u2013 families accuse police of alleged recklessness<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":90155,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"9319","_seopress_titles_title":"East Jerusalem youths drown in Jaffa, anger at police","_seopress_titles_desc":"Footage from the funeral from Al-Aqsa to the Yusufiya cemetery after the Jaffa drowning \u2013 families accuse police of alleged recklessness","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10327,9320,9314],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-90161","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking","8":"category-jerusalem-news","9":"category-main-item"},"acf":{"subtitle":"Footage from the funeral from Al-Aqsa to the Yusufiya cemetery after the Jaffa drowning \u2013 families accuse police of alleged recklessness"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}