Protesting Palestinian Parapalegic Not Killed By Israeli Soldiers, IDF Says
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
JERUSALEM (JTA) — An Israeli military investigation determined that a Palestinian parapalegic was not killed by Israel Defense Forces troops attempting to quell a riot near the Gaza border fence.
Palestinian health officials said Ibrahim Abu Thurayya, 29, was shot in the head while demonstrating in Gaza in December, during protests against President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Thurayya had said he lost his legs in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza in 2008.
The investigation revealed that Israeli snipers stopped firing at the riot at least an hour before Palestinians say the double amputee, who used a wheelchair was killed, Ynet reported.
About 1,000 Palestinians participated in the violent riot near the fence on Dec. 15, 2017. Some threw stones at the fence and hurled Molotov cocktails as well as a pipe bomb.
According to the investigation, Ynet reported, Thurayya, a regular at such protests, visited his family the night before he was killed and apologized that he would be becoming a shahid, or martyr.
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