By Ali Sawafta
QABATIYA, West Bank, Dec 22 (Reuters) – The Israeli military said it was reviewing 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 shot.
Asked about the video, an Israeli military spokesperson said: “A Palestinian suspected of hurling a block at IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) soldiers was shot. The incident is under review.”
Palestinian officials said that Rayyan Mohammad Abu Mualla was shot and killed on Saturday in the northern West Bank town of Qabatiya, during a raid by the Israeli military.
The Israeli military initially said on Saturday: “During IDF operational activity in the area of Qabatiya, a terrorist hurled a block toward the soldiers, who responded with fire and eliminated the terrorist.”
CCTV footage showed two Israeli soldiers – one crouching and one standing on a lit street corner at dark – and a third soldier appearing to take position in an adjacent street leading to the same corner.
A person is then seen walking down a street and as he reaches the corner, he is shot by the crouching soldier and falls back and onto the ground.
The video does not appear to show him throwing a block or holding one.
The video starts six minutes before the shooting, showing the streets empty and then a military vehicle driving down the street as one person peers off a rooftop and another through a window as the soldiers arrive at the scene.
The person who is shot appears in the video three seconds before the shooting, and it is not possible to ascertain what the person was doing or holding before he is seen.
The footage was obtained from the owner of the security camera and its location and date were verified by Reuters. The incident is partly obscured because of the angle of the camera and the low light.
Abu Mualla’s mother, Ibtihal, said that the Israeli military had taken his body away.
CCTV footage from around 22 minutes after the shooting appears to show his body being placed by soldiers on a stretcher 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 didn’t 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 stepping up 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 meant to tackle Palestinian militants and thwart attacks against Israelis.
(Additional reporting by Maayan LubellWriting by Tamar Uriel-Beeri and Maayan LubellEditing by Frances Kerry)
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