The IDF says it shot youths in the West Bank after they threw bricks at soldiers. The video seems to contradict that
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Israel’s military said it was reviewing an incident in the West Bank in which soldiers shot and killed a 16-year-old Palestinian who they said threw a brick at them, after CCTV footage showed he was not doing so when he was shot.
Asked about the video, a spokesman for the Israeli military said: “A Palestinian man who is accused of throwing fire at the IDF. [Israeli Defence Forces] the soldiers were shot. The incident is being reviewed.”
Palestinian officials say Rayyan Mohammad Abu Mualla was shot dead on Saturday in the northern West Bank town of Qabatiya, during an Israeli raid.
The Israeli army first said on Saturday: “During the IDF’s operation in the Qabatiya area, the terrorists attacked the soldiers, who returned fire and killed the terrorists.”
CCTV footage showed two Israeli soldiers – one crouching and the other standing on a lighted street corner – and a third soldier seen standing on a nearby street leading to the same corner.
A person is then seen walking down the street and when he comes to a corner he is shot by a crouching soldier and falls backwards to the ground.
The video does not appear to show him throwing or catching one.
The video begins six minutes before the shooting, showing the streets empty and then a military vehicle driving down the road as one person peers through a roof and another through a window as soldiers arrive at the scene.
The person who was shot appears in the video three seconds before the shooting, and it is impossible to find out what the person was doing or where he was before he appeared.
The mother says the IDF took her body
The footage was obtained from the owner of the security camera and its location and date confirmed by Reuters. The scene is not visible due to the camera angle and low light.
Abu Mualla’s mother, Ibtihal, said Israeli soldiers took his body.
CCTV footage taken about 22 minutes after the shooting appears to show his body being placed by the security forces and driven away in a military vehicle 11 minutes after that, 33 minutes after the shooting.
“They could have shot him in the leg, my son did not throw anything towards them,” said Mualla. “I want to bury my son with dignity,” she said.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Since January, when Israel began to escalate attacks in the northern West Bank, 53 Palestinian children have been killed by Israeli forces, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Israel says the attack is aimed at fighting Palestinian militants and thwarting attacks on Israelis.
