NABLUS (Dispatches) -- The killing of 21-year-old Palestinian Raed al-Naasan at the hands of Israeli troops has been laid bare by new video evidence published by the BBC that contradicts the occupying regime’s account of his murder.
Naasan was one of five Palestinians martyred by Zionist forces on November 29.
Israeli occupation forces initially claimed that Naasan was killed while throwing a Molotov cocktail. They entered the village of Al-Mughayyir in the occupied West Bank to demolish a Palestinian home that the Zionist regime claims was built illegally.
Newly released footage of the minutes leading to Naasan’s martyrdom reveals him and others throwing rocks at Zionist forces before two shots ring out, the second of which fatally wounds him.
In his last moments, captured on camera, Naasan is seen running around a corner before stumbling to the ground just as emergency services arrive at the scene.
Following Naasan’s death, the occupying regime’s military said its troops responded with live ammunition after a suspect “spotted hurling Molotov cocktails” at them.
The new video evidence shows that neither Naasan nor any of the people around him were throwing any Molotov cocktails.
In response to the killing, the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said, “There are many cases of protests where the Palestinians are using rocks, stones and sometimes other means, and Israel’s army almost always uses disproportionate force.”
The killing of the five Palestinians on Tuesday brought the death toll in the occupied Palestinian territories this year to 207 Palestinians, of whom 155 were martyred in the West Bank and occupied East Al-Quds making it the deadliest year recorded for Palestinians since 2005.
The occupying regime of Israel’s “shoot-to-kill policy” has been widely criticized as the number of Palestinian deaths at the hands of Zionist forces increases.
Many Palestinian activists believe that Zionist troops have been receiving new orders to target Palestinians with lethal force under that policy.
“Israeli soldiers usually arrest the youth, not shoot them. They have never shot so many live bullets, and we think it is connected to new orders the soldiers are getting,” Palestinian activist Jad al-Bargouthi told Middle East Eye earlier this week.
Although the occupying regime’s shoot-to-kill policy has been in place for years, many Palestinians are attributing the increase in Palestinian deaths and the lack of hesitation from soldiers to the victory of the right-wing regime that recently won the elections in Occupied Palestine.
Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich of the Religious Zionism party, along with members of the incoming government, have made their stance on anti-Arab racism very clear in their rhetoric over the years, going as far as advocating for the deportation of citizens of Occupied Palestine that are ethnically Palestinian and calling for Palestinians throwing rocks to be shot.
Ben-Gvir, Israel’s incoming security minister, speaking to the soldier who shot a Palestinian man dead at point-blank range on Friday, hailed the killing as “precise, swift and rigorous”, calling the shooter a “hero”.
Ben-Gvir said the soldier had carried out a job “well done” in fatally shooting 22-year-old Ammar Mefleh, whose death was caught on video and shared widely on social media.
In the video, the soldier - who has not been identified - scuffled with Mefleh in the occupied West Bank town of Huwwara near Nablus before pulling a gun and firing two shots that sent the youth to the ground before shooting him twice more.
On Monday,a young Palestinian man was martyred and six more were injured during an Israeli military raid on a refugee camp in the central West Bank.
Palestinian officials said the raid began with several Zionist military vehicles entering Dheisheh refugee camp, located just south of Bethlehem, early morning.
Local sources said Israeli snipers were positioned on the rooftops of houses and buildings overlooking the camp, before clashes broke out between residents and troops.
The Palestinian health ministry identified the 22-year-old victim as Omar Yousef Manna’ Fararja, saying he was martyred after being shot in the chest.
Israeli troops also ransacked several homes in the refugee camp, and abducted three Palestinians, including Omar’s 24-year-old brother, Yazan.