Israeli occupation forces who shot dead a Palestinian teenager in the West Bank last week used live fire, without warning, against innocent youngsters out foraging for roots, an Israeli rights group said Wednesday.
After investigating the March 19 death of 15-year-old Yussef Sami Shawamreh, BTselem said it had found no evidence to support the armys version of events that troops had opened fire at youths who had sabotaged the West Bank apartheid wall.
BTselem said the primary responsibility for the boys death rested with the army commanders who approved the use of live fire at a site where villagers from Deir al-Asal al-Tahta are known to go out and pick wild plants on their own land.
An army spokeswoman told AFP after the incident that soldiers had spotted three Palestinians vandalizing the wall, saying they had verbally warned them before firing warning shots in the air then shooting at their lower extremities.
http://www.intifada-palestine.com/2014/03/israeli-soldiers-shot-dead-palestinian-teen-cold-blood/