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Israeli army officer "justified " for shooting Palestinian stone-hurler

Xinhua, April 11, 2016 Adjust font size:

Israeli military closed Sunday an investigation against a commander who shot dead a fleeing Palestinian teen, after he hurled a stone at his vehicle, without any charges against the shooter.

The July 3 incident in a-Ram, a Palestinian suburb village of Jerusalem, left Muhammad Ali Kasbeh, 17, dead after the commander of the Binyamin Regional Brigade in the occupied West Bank, Colonel Yisrael Shomer, shot three bullets at him, according to the military police report.

A video footage from a surveillance camera, released by the Israeli B'Tselem human rights organization, showed the teen threw a single stone at Shomer's vehicle and started running away from the scene.

The vehicle immediately stopped, and two soldiers emerged, beginning a pursuit after the fleeing teen. Shomer, according to his admission, then shot the teen.

The military has launched an investigation. But on Sunday the Military Advocate General Brigadier General Sharon Afek released a statement ruling "the shooting was justified" and was "part of a procedure to arrest the rock-hurler," the statement read.

According to the Advocate General, Shomer shot two "warning shots" in the air and two additional shots to the teen's legs in an attempt to stop him.

Because Shomer was shooting while chasing Kasbeh, the fire mistakenly hit the teen's upper body, causing lethal injuries. The Advocate General considered it as a "professional mistake."

According to a report by B'Tselem, Kasbeh sustained three bullets -- one to his face and two to his behind.

The announcement came as a fatal shooting by another Israeli soldier in the West Bank city of Hebron was internationally condemned.

In the March 24 incident, the soldier was captured on an amateur video firing a bullet into the head of wounded, motionless Palestinian youth after he allegedly stabbed and lightly wounded another soldier.

The military prosecution said the soldier is being investigated for homicide, but no charges were made yet.

A six-month-long violent Palestinian unrest saw the death of 28 Israelis, two U.S. nationals, and at least 190 Palestinians, who according to Israel were killed mostly amidst attacks. Endit