Clip purports to show unarmed Palestinians shot by IDF
2 youths were killed after Nakba Day clashes had subsided, NGO footage ostensibly shows; army says film edited to distort events
An international non-governmental organization released video footage Monday that purportedly shows two Palestinians being shot during Nakba Day clashes with the IDF in the West Bank last Thursday.
The surveillance video, posted by Defense for Children International’s Palestine division, starts with footage, time-stamped at 1:38 p.m., of the clashes near a gas station outside of Ofer Prison, in which a group of Palestinians are running for cover and one is in the act of slinging a rock.
The next piece of footage, time-stamped 1:45 p.m., appears to show a Palestinian getting shot as he walks by the gas station after the clashes have subsided. A second Palestinian appears to be shot at 2:58 p.m., after which people rushed from the gas station to his aid, followed by cameramen.
The video named the two fatalities as Nadeem Siam Nawara, 17, and Mohammad Mahmoud Odeh, 16. Neither appeared to be armed.
A Palestinian man interviewed in the video said that at the time of the shootings, there was nobody throwing stones and that the youth had moved back behind the gas station. He added that he heard four shots of live ammunition that he was sure had come from the direction of the lot outside the eastern side of the prison.
The IDF did not deny the authenticity of the clip but did say that it had been edited in a manner that did not reflect Thursday’s events, and that it was still looking into the circumstances of the youths’ deaths.
“Last Thursday, there were a number of violent protests in Judea and Samaria. In the Betunia area, a violent demonstration took place, involving around 150 Palestinians which included incidents of tire-burning and rock-throwing,” the army said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.
“Security forces in the area used riot dispersal means to restore calm. Later in the day, it was reported that two Palestinians died as a result of these security operations. A preliminary investigation determined that live fire was not used by security forces. The incident remains under investigation. The video clip which was released today has been edited, and doesn’t document the full extent of the event, nor does it reflect the violent nature of the riot.”
Palestinians said the two had been killed by live ammunition.
Nakba (catastrophe) Day is observed by Palestinians and their supporters to commemorate their displacement following the establishment of the State of Israel.
A senior Palestinian source warned Thursday that security coordination between Israel and the Palestinian Authority was on the verge of collapse following the fatal clashes. The source, in a conversation with The Times of Israel, said that recent, “dangerous” developments on the ground — notably the killing of the two Palestinians in Nakba Day demonstrations earlier in the day — had already led to heavy pressure on the Palestinian leadership to immediately sever ties with Israel’s security apparatuses.
On Friday, The Times of Israel’s reporter Avi Issacharoff was attacked, and feared for his life, at a demonstration soon after the two funerals, and extricated by two members of the PA security forces.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
