Israeli commander says shooting subdued attacker is "unjustified"

Shooting a subdued Palestinian attacker in Hebron in March was "unjustified," Yariv Ben-Ezra, the outgoing commander of the Hebron Brigade, told the court on Wednesday.

Sgt. Elor Azaria is charged with shooting and killing Abdel al-Fattah Yusri al-Sharif, 21, at Tel Rumeida neighborhood of the West Bank town of Hebron on March 24.

According to military accounts, the incident occurred after al-Sharif and another Palestinian, Ramzi Aziz al-Qasarwi, stabbed another soldier, wounding him lightly.

Troops opened fire at them, seriously injuring Al-Sharif and killing al-Qasarwi. Al-Sharif was laying on the ground, immobilized, for several minutes, before Azaria approached him and shot at his head.

A video footage of the incident surfaced on the internet and went viral, prompting a military police investigation into the case.

"The shooting was unjustified because it happened in a situation in which there was no mortal danger," Col. Yariv Ben-Ezra, the outgoing commander of the Hebron Brigade, told the military court in Jaffa, near Tel Aviv.

"The more information was added that day, the more I understood that the shooting had not been justified. Since the shooting took place in a situation where life was not in danger, and the more I watched the video clip later, I understood that better," he said.

Asking on Azaria's line of defense, charging the shooting was done for fear that al-Sharif is hiding an explosive belt under his jacket, Ben-Ezra said "No one approached me on the scene and warned me of a suspected bomb."

Ben-Ezra said that he first heard of that "suspicion" at noon through media reports. "Not on my way to the site, not at the site - the subject of fear of a bomb never came up," he added.

The incident sent shockwaves throughout Israel. It has divided the nation, with some people condemning Azaria's act as an unlawful execution and many others considering him as a national hero that has been wronged by the system.

On June 6, an investigation by B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization, indicated that the second Palestinian, who carried out the stabbing together with al-Sharif, was also executed by a soldier.

The Israeli army said following the incident that the second Palestinian attacker, al-Qasarwi, died of gunshots fired by a soldier during the attack. However, B'Tselem said it has gathered testimonies from Palestinians charging that's not the case.

B'Tselem said that according to the testimonies, al-Qasarwi was only wounded from the shots after the stabbing attack, and that another soldier "shot him in the head or neck twice on point-blank."

The Israeli military said in response that the accounts "do not match the findings of our operational investigation," adding that the shots fired at al-Qasarawi were necessary "to remove the threat while he was attacking the soldiers."

The incident came amidst a nine-month spate of Palestinian unrest, including stabbing, shooting, and car-ramming attacks.

The violence has killed at least 215 Palestinians and 34 Israelis. According to Israel, most of the Palestinian were killed amidst attacks or attempted attacks. Endit