Human rights NGO: Investigate senior IDF officers over Ofer killings

Noam Sheizaf By Noam Sheizaf May 20, 2014 | Edit

Following the release of CCTV footage showing the killing of two Palestinian minors near Ofer prison on Thursday, the Israeli human rights NGO B’Tselem called for an investigation of senior officers who were present at the scene. B’Tselem also asked the IDF to look into “misleading information” given to the local and international media after the incident.

The organization released several more videos from the event, showing the moment of shootings and the minutes leading up to them from two different angles. Here are the clips:

Nadem Syam Nawara, 17, and Mohammad Mahmoud Odeh, 16, were shot to death near Ofer military prison in the West Bank during a Nakba Day protest. Two more Palestinian protesters were injured. Stones were thrown at IDF soldiers during the protest, but as the new footage revealed, Nawara and Odeh were shot from afar; one of them was actually with his back to the soldiers, and neither posed any risk to the army forces, nor threw any rocks.

Following the incident, the IDF Spokesperson claimed that no live ammunition was used by the military that day. However, the medical team that treated the teens said that they were wounded from live bullets. The distance from which they were shot also supports this theory, as rubber coated bullets very rarely kill from such a distance.

B’Tselem obtained the full tapes of four CCTV cameras which operated at the scene. A spokesperson for the organization said that the raw footage will be handed to the military police. B’Tselem also invited all media organizations to examine the raw footage themselves.

“The evidence might suggest intentional killing,” said B’Tselem spokesperson Sarit Michaeli. “There was no danger posed by the deceased or by the injured to the security forces, nor from anyone standing close to them.” All four Palestinians were hit in the upper parts of their body. Army orders allow the use of crowd control measures and rubber coated bullets. In extreme cases of immediate threat to soldiers, the orders allow shooting live ammunition in the lower parts of the body.

Noam Sheizaf

Noam Sheizaf is an independent journalist and editor. He was the founding executive director and editor-in-chief of +972 Magazine. Prior to joining +972, he worked for Tel Aviv’s Ha-ir local paper, Ynet, and the Maariv daily, where his last position was deputy editor of the weekend magazine. He is currently working on a number of documentary films.