CCTV footage probes IDF soldier’s claim he killed Palestinian in ‘self defence’

Newly-released CCTV footage has thrown doubt on claims from a senior Israeli soldier that he was acting in self-defence when he shot and killed a Palestinian teenager on 3 July.

Col. Yisrael Shomer, a brigade commander, was travelling by car when 17-year old Mohammed Kasbeh threw a stone at it. Shomer said at the time that he used lethal force only because he feared for his life.

But video from the CCTV camera of a garage forecourt, obtained by journalists and human rights groups, show Kasbeh running away while Shomer gives chase.

Only hours after Shomer shot Kasbeh, the third sibling in his family to have been killed by the IDF, far-right minister Naftali Bennett led several leading politicians in rushing to praise the senior officer.

However, medical evidence and eyewitness reports suggested that Kasbeh had been “shot in the back,” a finding which would contradict Shomer’s version of events.

“The claim that Kasbeh posed a mortal threat to the soldiers at the time of the shooting, having fled the scene, is unreasonable,” said rights group B’Tselem in a statement.

Now, with the video evidence coming to light, military investigators are due to continue questioning Shomer, who has been given the full backing of the army.