IDF footage shows settler stone-throwing attack on troops in West Bank

The IDF releases footage showing the moments a military patrol was subject to massive stone-throwing by Israeli settlers, in the West Bank, overnight between Friday and Saturday.

The incident took place at 12:37 a.m., some six kilometers (3.72 miles) from where a battalion commander and his forces were physically assaulted by settlers less than two hours earlier.

After coming under attack from 10-to-20 masked suspects who were hiding on a hill in an ambush, the commanding officer of the patrol ordered troops to make a U-turn, according to an IDF probe. The officer then briefly got out of the vehicle and fired three warning shots in the air, according to army protocol, to try and stop the stone throwing.

The officer advanced toward the masked suspects to continue a “suspect arrest procedure,” when he realized it was Jews and not Palestinians, as one shouted at him in Hebrew: “I’ll shoot you in the head, you son of a whore.”

The suspects then all fled the area.

Around half an hour later, at 1:03 a.m., a 14-year-old Israeli boy was brought to a nearby army post with a bullet in his shoulder, was treated by army medics and Magen David Adom, and taken to a hospital.

The settlers who brought him to the army post refused to provide any details on the circumstances of his injury, according to the military.

The IDF says the officer did not directly fire at anyone during the incident, and the bullet lodged in the young boy will be examined.

The military says it may be possible that one of the warning shots in the air hit the boy, but stresses that the officer acted completely according to protocol.

“If a person who threatens our forces is hit, it’s his problem. What is a 14-year-old boy doing masked and throwing stones at an army patrol?” a senior officer says.