Israeli Soldier Arrested for Shooting Wounded Palestinian Attacker

An Israeli soldier has been arrested for fatally shooting a wounded Palestinian attacker in the head, after activists released a video showing the shooting.

The Palestinian man — identified by local media as 21-year-old Yusri al-Sharif — was injured and detained in the act of attacking an Israeli soldier with a knife at a military checkpoint in the city of Hebron, the Washington Post reports. The soldier was wounded in the hand and torso.

The 3-minute video appears to show the Israeli soldier — who has not been named — raise his gun and kill the assailant, even though he no longer seemed to pose a threat. The extremely graphic footage can be seen here. B’Tselem, an Israeli Human rights group, obtained the video and released it to media.

Chief Spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces Brig. Gen. Moti Almoz said military police subsequently arrested the soldier, and are investigating those present at the scene. “This is not the culture of the IDF, and not the culture of the Jewish people, and not connected to military procedure in any way,” Almoz said.

Since last year, there has been an increase in Palestinians committing knife attacks against Israelis. Between mid-September and mid-March, the AP reports, Palestinians killed 28 Israelis and 2 Americans in knife, gun, and vehicle attacks. During the same period, Israeli forces killed 184 Palestinians, most of whom they say were attackers. Others died in clashes with Israeli forces.