Israel Confirms Video of Soldier Shooting Palestinian

Israel’s military on Tuesday confirmed the authenticity of a widely shared video showing a soldier shoot a Palestinian on the Gaza border followed by rejoicing, actions that have added to scrutiny of the army’s use of live fire, according to AFP.

The video comes at a highly sensitive time for Israel’s military, which has faced mounting criticism over its use of live fire on the Gaza Strip border, where 31 Palestinians have been killed since late March as mass protests have led to clashes.

But the army alleged that the December 22 shooting in the video it said left the Palestinian with a leg wound followed rioting and warnings from troops.

Palestinians said it was proof that Gazans were being shot along the border fence while posing no threat to soldiers.

Israeli right-wing ministers meanwhile defended the actions of the soldiers in the video, which began to spread widely on Monday night.

Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the sniper deserved a medal -- but that the soldier who filmed it should be demoted.

The army said in a statement that “the video depicts a short part of the response to a violent riot, which included rock hurling and attempts to sabotage the security fence, and lasted about two hours.”

It alleged the warnings including firing into the air were ignored.

“A single bullet was fired towards one of the Palestinians who is suspected of organising and leading this incident while he was a few metres from the fence,” it said.

It said the video was recorded by a soldier not part of the unit that fired the shot and that action would be taken against him.

“As for the unauthorised filming of an operational event, the distribution of the filmed material and the statements made there, it should be noted that these do not suit the degree of restraint expected of (Israeli) soldiers and will be dealt by commanders accordingly,”