Israeli authorities returned on Wednesday the body of Mahmoud Raafat Badran, 15, who was shot dead by Israeli forces a day earlier while driving back from the swimming pool with his friends in the central occupied West Bank
Mahmoud’s body was delivered to the Palestinian civil liaison at the Ofer detention center in Beituniya, and a Palestinian ambulance carried him to the Ramallah Governmental Hospital.
Palestinian youths in the area chanted slogans demanding revenge for Mahmoud’s death, which the Israeli army called a “mistake.”
Details regarding Mahmoud’s funeral remained unknown at the time of publication.
Mahmoud was in a car with several friends from the village of Beit Sira to Beit Ur al-Tahta at night between Monday and Tuesday, when an Israeli soldier showered the car with bullets, killing Mahmoud and seriously injuring four other teenagers in the vehicle
The Israeli army initially said in the wake of the killing that it had shot at “terrorists” throwing stones in the area, although an Israeli army spokesperson later told Ma'an that "Israeli forces acted to protect additional vehicles from immediate danger and fired toward the suspects and bystanders were mistakenly hit."
Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem slammed the shooting on Wednesday, saying it was “a direct result of military policy which enables, despite the official prohibition in the open-fire regulations, to use deadly fire even in cases where there is no threat to life and even when the soldiers have other, non-lethal, means at their disposal.”
A statement released hours after the incident by Palestine Liberation Organization Secretary-General Saeb Erekat condemned the “brutal attack in the strongest terms.”
“This cold-blooded assassination reaffirms our calls to the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, to initiate an immediate extensive investigation into Israeli extrajudicial killings of Palestinians; particularly children,” the statement read.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry responded to Mahmoud’s death by blaming Palestinian incitement for his killing.
“If it were not for the difficult security situation which is entirely the result of incitement and Palestinian terror, Israel would not be forced to use force in order to protect its civilians,” the ministry was quoted by Ynet as saying, despite the Israeli army’s admission that Badran had nothing to do with the stone-throwing incident.
Although the Israeli army has reportedly launched an investigation into the shooting, B’Tselem expressed serious doubts regarding the likelihood of a proper accountability process taking place in the case.
“The military law enforcement system mainly serves as a whitewashing mechanism, which means there is scant hope that this investigation would lead to systemic change in military policy or bring justice,” the organization said in a statement.
More than 220 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers since the beginning of a wave of unrest in October.
In recent months, Israel has accused numerous Palestinians of “inciting terror” and detained scores for Facebook posts that Israeli authorities alleged were responsible for an increase in alleged attacks and attempted attacks against Israeli military targets and settlers.
Palestinians have instead pointed chiefly to the frustration and despair brought on by Israel's nearly 50-year military occupation of the Palestinian territory and the absence of a political horizon.
