Video seems to indicate Israeli troopers shoot 3 Palestinians

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BEIT RIMA, West Financial institution — Safety digicam video from a West Financial institution village reveals a younger man standing in a central sq. when he’s all of a sudden shot and drops to the bottom. Two others dashing to his help are additionally hit, leaving a 17-year-old lifeless, moments earlier than Israeli army jeeps roll in.

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An Related Press assessment of the video and interviews with the 2 wounded survivors confirmed Israeli troopers opened fireplace on the three when they didn’t seem to pose a risk. One of many wounded Palestinians was shot a second time after he received up and tried to hop away.

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The deadly capturing within the village of Beit Rima final week is the most recent in a sequence of incidents during which troopers appeared to fireside with out provocation, a pattern Palestinians say has worsened because the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza three months in the past.

The Israeli army mentioned troops entered Beit Rima in a single day Thursday into Friday as a part of a “counter-terrorism operation.” It mentioned troops fired at suspects who threw explosives and firebombs at them.

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The video, obtained by the AP from an area smoke store, doesn’t present anybody throwing explosives.

After reviewing the footage, a army spokesperson mentioned troopers reported that one of many Palestinians — seen kneeling in entrance of an object simply outdoors the body — was igniting a Molotov cocktail when he was shot.

The video, nonetheless, reveals that the primary shot doesn’t hit the kneeling man, however quite one other Palestinian man, Nader Rimawi. Nader informed the AP that the article was a stack of cardboard containers and scraps of paper that 17-year-old Osaid Rimawi had gathered and was making ready to mild to maintain the boys heat.

Different movies of the capturing posted to social media and reviewed by AP seem per Nader’s description of the article Osaid was making ready to mild. It’s potential movies taken from different angles might additional illuminate what occurred.

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In interviews with the AP, the wounded village residents denied having thrown explosives and mentioned the shootings, about 2 a.m. Friday, had been unprovoked.

Two of the six Rimawi brothers had been within the city sq. when phrase unfold that Israeli troopers had been within the village. They mentioned they had been conscious of the military presence, however that there had been no confrontations. “We had been with the younger males standing on the roundabout of the city,” mentioned Mohammed Rimawi, 25. “We began wanting round as we had been standing and never doing something.”

The half-hour safety digicam video begins about 20 minutes earlier than the shootings with males gathering in small teams, strolling out and in of the body as vehicles come and go. Some males gesture elsewhere within the village.

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The group within the body finally thins to underneath 10 males. Then they scatter as a shot hits Mohammed’s brother, 29-year-old Nader, within the left leg.

The video reveals Mohammed working to assist earlier than being shot.

“We noticed a sniper who began capturing. He shot him. I went to assist him. Then he shot me,” mentioned Mohammed, who was struck by a bullet in his proper hip.

The video reveals Osaid dashing to help them as he slips one thing into his pocket. He’s shortly shot and later dies of his wounds. His brother, Islam Rimawi, later informed AP that he discovered a lighter, 20 shekels ($5.36), and a pack of cigarettes in Osaid’s pocket.

Mohammed was in a position to crawl away, however the different two had been left rolling on the bottom. Nader stood up and tried to hop away, earlier than once more collapsing to the bottom. Talking from his hospital mattress days later, Nader mentioned he collapsed after being shot in his proper leg.

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Other than Israeli troops carrying weapons, no weapons are seen all through the video. The shooter is just not seen both.

The video confirmed 4 armored Israeli automobiles arriving about 2 minutes after the capturing and roughly a dozen troopers getting out, weapons susceptible. They gathered round Mohammed. One soldier prodded Osaid along with his foot. Inside 4 minutes, the troopers left the wounded Palestinians on the bottom and drove away, ignoring the stack of containers and declining to arrest them.

One other video of the capturing reviewed by the AP reveals the stack of containers is then toppled by a Palestinian automobile dashing to evacuate the wounded.

Shortly after, Osaid — a highschool pupil learning to turn out to be a barber — was pronounced lifeless at a close-by hospital.

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The army spokesperson mentioned that there have been different cases the place Palestinians had thrown Molotov cocktails on the forces in Beit Rima that night time however mentioned he didn’t know when. The boys shot within the video mentioned this was the one altercation in Beit Rima they had been conscious of that night time.

The army didn’t reply when requested if troopers had violated army coverage and didn’t say whether or not there could be an official investigation.

The Israeli rights group B’Tselem mentioned that even when questionable shootings are caught on digicam and investigated by the army, they hardly ever lead to indictments.

“Instances like these occur fairly usually, however nobody’s listening to about them,” mentioned Dror Sadot, a spokesperson for the group. “The army will say that it’s opening an investigation. And this investigation will final for years, most likely with none media protecting it. After which it is going to be washed down the drain.”

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In response to Sadot’s allegation, a army spokesperson offered this assertion: “Every investigation file is examined in line with its circumstances. Within the applicable instances, numerous enforcement measures are taken, together with the submitting of indictments.”

Human rights teams have beforehand offered instances during which troopers opened fireplace with out their lives being at risk, in obvious violation of the army’s guidelines of engagement. Generally, the victims had been Palestinians, however Israelis have additionally been killed in high-profile shootings in the course of the conflict.

In December, three Israeli hostages who had escaped their Hamas captors in Gaza waved white flags and shouted for assist in Hebrew earlier than being gunned down by troopers.

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Sadot mentioned her group has seen an unprecedented stage of violence from troopers and settlers within the West Financial institution because the conflict broke out. The West Financial institution is experiencing one of many deadliest phases on report, in line with United Nations screens.

Beit Rima resident Ahmed Rimawi, whose two brothers had been wounded within the capturing, mentioned he believes troopers have turn out to be extra aggressive because the begin of the conflict. Prior to now, they might initially fireplace stun grenades to disperse crowds within the village. Now, he mentioned, “they open fireplace immediately on individuals.”

Palestinian well being officers mentioned 340 Palestinians have been killed within the three tense months since Hamas militants attacked southern Israel and killed about 1,200 individuals, largely civilians.

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The Hamas assault prompted Israel to wage a blistering air and floor marketing campaign on the Gaza Strip that has killed over 23,000 individuals _ and to tighten its grip on the West Financial institution by way of near-nightly, usually lethal, raids. Israel says the crackdown is geared toward Hamas and different militant teams.

Mohammed and Nader are recovering from their wounds. Each usually work at a manufacturing unit in a close-by Palestinian village, packaging ready salads for market. They mentioned they gained’t work once more till they can stroll.

Nader underwent surgical procedure Sunday for accidents to his thigh. Mohammed has been launched from the hospital however is unable to place weight on his proper leg. He limps across the household’s small ornate residence in Beit Rima — a village of about 4,000 individuals north of the town of Ramallah — with assistance from a metallic walker.

Again on the village roundabout, the partitions are plastered with the weathered faces of native males killed in encounters or clashes with Israeli forces. Amongst their ranks now seems Osaid’s {photograph}, gazing over the pockmarked spot within the floor the place he was killed.

— Related Press journalist Jalal Bwaitel in Beit Rima, West Financial institution contributed to this report.

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