Hundreds of protesters gathered outside a military court in support of an IDF soldier who was caught on film shooting a wounded Palestinian man in the West Bank.
They call for the release of the Israeli soldier whose identity remains under gag order.
Footage emerged on Friday allegedly shows the soldier shooting the Palestinian man in the head as he lay injured on the ground after a stabbing attack.
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Protesters, as well as right wing politicians have criticized Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, who has said the soldier acted inappropriately.
The Independent reports:
Amateur footage shows the man, named as Abed al-Fattah Yusri al-Sharif, lying on the street as one of the soldiers near him appears to raise his gun and shoot him in the head. Blood is then seen pouring from the wound.
Mr al-Sharif and another Palestinian man, Ramzi Aziz al-Qasrawi, were shot after allegedly stabbing a soldier in Tel Rumeida, in the Hebron area of the occupied West Bank.
Both men died at the scene. The stabbed soldier was treated for minor injuries.
In his ruling at the military court in Kastina, the judge said he found reasonable suspicion of an illegal shooting, but noted the incident was “complicated”.
The unnamed soldier, an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) medic, reportedly told military police he shot al-Sharif because he feared for his life.
Haaretz reports the medic told interrogators: “I fired the shot when the terrorist was alive. I did it because I felt my life was in danger.”
The trial continues, pending an autopsy of Mr al-Sharif’s body.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the soldier along with the military, saying at a cabinet meeting on Sunday: “Any challenge to the morality of the IDF is outrageous and unacceptable.
