Israelis Investigating This Footage that Seemingly Shows West Bank Settlers Firing on Rock-Throwing Palestinians

The non-governmental group B’Tselem released footage Sunday of a seemingly deadly stand-off that occurred Saturday between Israeli settlers and Palestinian men near the settlement of Yitzhar and the town of Asira al-Qibliya.

In the video, a group of presumed Palestinians is throwing rocks at what appear to be the settlers, who are armed with rifles.  Less than a minute into the video, a man named as 24-year-old Fathi Asayira is seemingly shot in retaliation by a settler armed with a rifle.

As the man who was allegedly shot is carried away by his companions, the settlers and what appears to be Israeli soldiers on the scene back away into the distance.

Watch the footage below (Warning, both are graphic):

Angle 2:

"The video footage raises grave suspicions that the soldiers present did not act to prevent the settlers from throwing stones and firing live ammunition at the Palestinians," said B'Tselem. "The soldiers did not try to remove the settlers and in fact are seen standing by settlers while they are shooting and stone throwing."

A statement from the Palestinian Prime Minister's office reads: "The gravity of the footage lies not only in the settlers' provocations and shooting live ammunition towards unarmed residents, but also in the irresponsibility of the Israeli soldiers who stood watching the events."

However, Yitzhar spokesman Avraham Binyamin told the Jerusalem Post that the men with guns were security personnel who were trying to protect settlers and put out a fire (which he says was started by the Palestinians), adding that the settlement had been on the receiving end of many attacks from local Palestinians.

The IDF maintains: "There was a shooting during the incident and the matter is being investigated‚ but on the surface, the video that was released does not seem to represent the whole incident."

(H/T: Business Insider)