The story of Israa Gharib’s murder began on August 22, 2019, when Palestinian media reported that a young Palestinian woman lost her life after being assaulted by three men from her own family. The family denied the crime, and a spokesperson claimed that she died of a heart attack.
Several months before Israa Gharib’s murder, a young man proposed to her, and their engagement was approved. Preparations for their wedding were underway. However, a few days before the ceremony, Israa posted a photo with her fiancé on social media, which stirred jealousy in one of her relatives. This relative instigated animosity within the family.
Incited by these relatives, three members of Israa Gharib’s family, including her sister’s husband, violently attacked her. As a result, she was hospitalized on August 9.
Upon her arrival at the hospital, the Palestinian Authority police received a report about a girl admitted with bruises and a spinal cord fracture. Police launched an investigation upon reaching the hospital and questioned Israa and her family. During the investigations, Israa did not accuse anyone and claimed that she accidentally fell from the balcony of her house. Consequently, the hospital closed the case, and the police considered the matter resolved.
Days later, medical professionals at the hospital allowed Israa to return home, as she was deemed capable of walking normally on her own. However, tragically, this was not the end of the story.
On August 22, 2019, just days after returning home, Israa Gharib was admitted to Beit Jala Governmental Hospital as a lifeless body. Her body was transferred to the Institute of Forensic Medicine for autopsy to determine the cause of death, and another part was sent to Jordan.
On September 6, Palestinian authorities arrested three individuals under provisional detention: M.S., B.G., and A.G.
By September 12, 2019, the investigation revealed that Gharib died due to complications in her respiratory system resulting from severe and repeated beatings. The Palestinian Attorney General held a press conference confirming that Israa Gharib was killed due to brutal beatings, based on the contents of the report stating that the cause of her death was acute respiratory failure resulting from the severe beatings and abuse she suffered. This contradicted earlier claims of her falling from a balcony or experiencing a heart attack.
On November 18, 2019, the Bethlehem Magistrate Court held the first trial session in the case of Israa Gharib’s murder. The session was public and dedicated to hearing testimony from 41 prosecution witnesses, including the victim’s father, Nasser Gharib, and two nurses and two doctors from the hospitals where she received treatment and medical examinations.
Sources, requesting anonymity, stated that occultists played a significant role in causing psychological harm to Israa Gharib, leading to their inclusion in the charges. One of the occultists in a Bethlehem camp told her that she was under a spell that would result in her death. This revelation changed her behavior, and she developed a constant obsession that someone was pursuing her father to kill him. The family believed that beating her severely would expel the possessing jinn, and her actions led her father to request confidentiality for the remainder of his testimony.
In December 2019, representatives from Palestinian human rights organizations attended the third session, where they heard Israa’s father’s testimony, which lasted about an hour and a half. Part of his testimony was public, and the other part was confidential.
In the public portion, Israa’s father described his daughter’s traits and how her behavior changed before her death, expressing her fear of jinn and sorcery. He reiterated her repeated claims that someone was pursuing her father to kill him.
Israa’s father confirmed receiving a call on the night before Eid al-Adha from his son Ihab, informing him that she had fallen from the balcony. Upon returning home, he found her lying peacefully in her bed. He recounted the details of her fall from the balcony, the narrative initially provided by the family to the media. He then requested the rest of his testimony to be kept confidential to preserve the family’s privacy and cohesion.
The murder of Israa Gharib has ignited an intense wave of anger within feminist organizations and human rights activists, transforming her case into a public outcry in Palestine and the Arab world at large.
Through the hashtag “#JusticeForIsraaGharib,” activists on the blogging platform Twitter rallied around several key pieces of evidence to support their accusations. Among the crucial factors was Israa’s admission to the hospital on August 9th, with a spinal cord fracture and multiple bruises on her body. This was deemed as clear evidence pointing to severe violence inflicted upon her by her own family.
The hashtag became a symbol of solidarity and a demand for justice, uniting people in expressing their condemnation of gender-based violence and advocating for a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding Israa Gharib’s tragic death. The public response underscored the urgent need to address issues related to women’s rights and violence against women, not only in Palestine but across the entire Arab world.