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The Israeli military said it was investigating an incident in the occupied West Bank in which soldiers shot dead a 16-year-old Palestinian who they said had thrown a brick at them, after CCTV footage appeared to show he was not doing so when he was shot.
Asked about the video, an Israeli army spokesperson said: “Palestinian suspected of throwing block at IDF [Israeli Defence Forces] soldiers were shot. The incident is currently being investigated.”
Palestinian officials said Rayyan Mohammad Abu Mualla was shot and killed Saturday in the northern West Bank town of Qabatiya during an Israeli army raid.
The Israeli military initially said on Saturday: “During IDF operational activity in the Qabatiya area, a terrorist threw a block towards soldiers, who responded with fire and eliminated the terrorist.”
CCTV footage showed two Israeli soldiers – one crouching and the other standing in the darkness on a street corner – and a third soldier appearing to take up positions on an adjacent street leading to the same corner.
We then see a person walking down a street and, as they reach the corner, they are shot by the crouching soldier and fall back to the ground.
The video does not appear to show him throwing a block or holding one.
The video begins six minutes before the shooting, showing empty streets, then a military vehicle driving down the street as one person watches from a roof and another through a window as soldiers arrive on the scene.
The person who was shot appears in the video three seconds before the shooting, and it is not possible to know for sure what they were doing or holding before they were seen.
Mother says IDF took her body away
The footage was obtained from the owner of the security camera and its location and date was verified by Reuters. The incident is partly obscured due to camera angle and low light.
Abu Mualla’s mother, Ibtihal, said the Israeli army took his body away.
CCTV footage from around 22 minutes after the shooting appears to show his body placed by soldiers on a stretcher and taken into a military vehicle 11 minutes later, or 33 minutes after the shooting.
“They could have shot him in the leg, my son didn’t throw anything at them,” Mualla said. “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 intensifying its raids in the northern West Bank, 53 Palestinian minors have been killed by Israeli forces, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Israel says the raids are aimed at combating Palestinian militants and thwarting attacks on Israelis.
