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JERUSALEM, June 6 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli B'Tselem Human Rights organization said on Monday that a second Palestinian was executed by an Israeli soldier following a stabbing attack in Hebron on March, which sent shockwaves throughout Israel.
The incident, in which an Israeli soldier shot an incapacitated Palestinian after a stabbing attack, divided the country. Now, the organization claims a second Palestinian was also "executed" by another Israeli soldier.
Two 21-year-old Palestinians, Abdel al-Fattah Yusri al-Sharif and Ramzi Aziz al-Qasarwi, attacked Israeli soldiers in a stabbing attack at the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of the West Bank town of Hebron on March 24, wounding one soldier lightly.
The two Palestinians were shot by soldiers at the scene and seriously injured and, according to footage taken by a volunteer of B'Tselem, an organization advocating human rights in the West Bank, an Israeli soldier, 19-year-old Elor Azaria, approached incapacitated al-Sharif and shot him at point-blank.
Azaria is currently on military trial facing manslaughter charges.
The case has been in the Israeli media headlines since March, coming to be known by the public as "the shooting soldier affair", and divided the country, between those who condemned his actions and those who supported them. It also drew vast international media coverage.
The Israeli army said following the incident that the second Palestinian attacker, al-Qasarwi, died following gunshots fired by a soldier during the attack. However, B'Tselem on Monday announced it has gathered testimonies from Palestinians charging that's not the case.
B'Tselem said that according to the testimonies, al-Qasarwi was only wounded from the shots fired at him after the stabbing attack, and that another soldier "shot him in the head or neck twice on point-blank."
The organization also explained the delay in the appearance of the information is the result of an ongoing closure imposed by the Israeli army on the Palestinian Tel-Rumeida neighborhood in Hebron, where the incident took place.
The Israeli military said in response that the accounts "do not match the findings of our operational investigation," adding that the shots fired at al-Qasarawi were necessary "to remove the threat while he was attacking the soldiers."
The incident is part of an ongoing wave of violence between Israelis and Palestinians which started in October, claiming the lives of 28 Israelis and 205 Palestinians.
The Israeli victims died in stabbing, shooting and car-ramming attacks by Palestinians.
Some of the Palestinian victims were killed in clashes with Israeli security forces during protests in the West Bank, while others were gunned down by security forces or vigilante citizens after allegedly carrying, or trying to carry out, attacks against Israelis.
Israeli left-wing groups and Palestinians charged Israel uses excessive force in its response to Palestinian attacks, shooting and killing Palestinian attackers although they no longer posed a threat to any lives.
The criticism was also delivered by Swedish Foreign Minister Margret Wallstrom, to the ire of the Israeli leadership, as well as by a group of U.S. democratic senators, who penned a report on the matter earlier this year.
Israeli leaders charge the wave of violence was prompted by the Palestinian Authority's "incitement to violence," whereas the Palestinians charge it is the result of 49 years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip territories, where they wish to establish a Palestinian state.
