Human rights organization, B’Tselem, released a video that sparked outrage over the execution-style killing of a Palestinian by an Israeli soldier in March. However, witnesses claim that a second Palestinian killed in the case was also shot in the head.

Abd al-Fattah al-Sharif, 21, and Ramzi Aziz al-Qasrawi, 21, were shot and killed after the two allegedly stabbed and moderately wounded an Israeli soldier at a military checkpoint on March 24.

B’Tselem released video of the moment when Israeli soldier Elor Azarya shot al-Sharif, who was lying wounded on the ground, in the head, killing him.

However, after speaking to witnesses from the Tel Rumeida area of the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron, where the killings took place, B’Tsalem claimed that the death of al-Qasrawi, who was killed before al-Sharif, “raise concerns that al-Qasrawi was also executed with a shot to the head, as he lay injured on the ground after having been hit by gunfire elsewhere in his body”.

According to two eyewitnesses, the B’Tselem statement added: “After both al-Sharif and al-Qasrawi were lying injured on the road, clearly posing no danger to anyone, and even before additional troops and the paramedics arrived on the scene, a soldier (or officer) went up to al-Qasrawi and shot him twice in the neck or head from several meters away.”

An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an, “The shooting of the assailant was carried out to remove the threat posed by the assailant when he attacked security forces with a knife”.

Two Palestinian Suspects Were Executed in Hebron, One Before Witnesses Could Hit 'Record' https://t.co/lQruHTUxNR cites @btselem @saritm0

— Robert Mackey (@RobertMackey) June 6, 2016

B’Tselem said that Israel’s “open-fire policy has the full backing of senior civil and military officials.” It added that this would grant it “legitimacy”, thus “enabling it to carry on.”

(PC, MA’AN)