According to Haaretz, Israeli prosecutors filed an indictment Thursday against a Gaza Strip resident, Mahmoud Omar, who was caught attempting to “infiltrate” the Jewish state and appeared to be related to a baby girl who died last month.
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While being interrogated in Israel, Omar allegedly said that the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, paid the minor’s family 8,000 shekels ($2,200) to lie about the cause of the baby’s death and claim that the eight-month-old died from exposure to tear gas that had been used by Israeli forces in an attempt to disperse Palestinian protesters.
Responding to the reports, the Israeli army questioned the claims, stating that they had “evidence that undermines the credibility of the Palestinian Ministry of Health’s announcement regarding the death of the baby.”
The indictment suggests that on the day the baby died, Omar was participating in a rally near the Gaza border with Israel, and it was his mother that called him to tell the news.
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On May 14, the day of the official opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem, the Gaza Health Ministry said that the baby had died from tear gas fired by Israeli forces, but on the following day, a medic told the Associated Press that he believed a serious pre-existing medical condition was to blame for the infant’s death.
A total of 60 Palestinians were killed and more than 2,400 injured during one of the bloodiest days of protests with Israeli Defense Forces as the Great March of Return turned violent following the US Embassy’s relocation from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.