Video shows Israeli troop shooting Palestinian in cold blood

JERUSALEM

A video footage released Monday by Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence showed an Israeli sniper shooting an unarmed Palestinian standing near the security fence along the Israeli-Gaza border.

The video which appears to have been filmed through a sniper rifle scope shows several unarmed Palestinians near the border fence.

At the beginning of the video, an Israel commander is heard saying, "the moment he stops clear, you take him down." When the sniper responds positively, the commander tells him, "Go, give."

A few moments later the commander orders the sniper to stop shooting when he spots a child.

Later on, the soldiers are heard discussing which sniper is taking aim on which of the Palestinian demonstrators.

The commander tells one of the soldiers to take the Palestinian protester wearing a blue shirt. Seconds later, the sniper says: "Not the pink. I am on the blue."

What follows is the brief sound of a single shot, and the Palestinian, who was wearing a pink shirt near the fence is seen collapsing and dozens of Palestinians converge on him for help.

"Wow, what a legendary video, you take that son of a b****," one of the soldiers is heard saying.

“Wow, someone was hit in the head,” another soldier says.

"Woo, film it, film it," the soldier says.

Ayman Odeh, an Arab Israeli member of the Knesset said in a Twitter post Monday: "A video that horrifies the mind, calls of joy at [taking] a life, appears an execution of someone who did not pose a threat to anyone."

The Israeli army, for its part, said that the footage showed an incident which dated back several months ago.

"The incident will be carefully examined," the army said in a statement.

At least 31 Palestinians have been martyred by Israeli forces since March 30, when peaceful Palestinian demonstrations began along the Gaza Strip’s eastern border with Israel, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The rallies are part of a six-week-long demonstration that will culminate on May 15. That day will mark the 70th anniversary of Israel's establishment -- an event Palestinians refer to as the "Nakba" or "Catastrophe".

Demonstrators demand that Palestinian refugees be granted the "right of return" to their towns and villages in historical Palestine from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.