JERUSALEM (JTA) — A Palestinian woman who died after inhaling tear gas at a West Bank protest died from her medical treatment, Israel’s military said.
Jawaher Abu Rahma, 36, died on the morning of Jan. 1, hours after she was said to have inhaled tear gas at a demonstration near the West Bank village of Bilin. She was reported to have died of complications from inhaling the tear gas.
"Our assumptions about the circumstances of the death have been verified," Brig. Gen. Nitzan Alon, commander of the Judea and Samaria Division, said Friday. "Our understanding is Abu-Rahma did not die as a result of inhaling tear gas but as a result of aspects of her medical treatment. There is no chance that the gas caused her death.
"Using tear gas in the way it was used in such an open area, and given the distance at which she was standing from the demonstration, there is no chance that her death was caused by the gas.”
Alon said that Palestinian officials shared the Israeli military’s understanding.
“Abu-Rahma did not take part in the demonstration, she was far away from it," Alon said."Remains of tear gas may have reached her but she did not die from this, rather as a result of complications related to other diseases. These findings are based on additional facts found during the week.”
Her brother, Bassem, was killed in April 2009 during a demonstration in the same area after being hit in the chest with a tear gas canister as it released its contents.
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