Israel’s justice ministry said Wednesday it was questioning an officer who fatally shot a youth accused of shooting a firework at security forces in East Jerusalem.
The shooting took place Tuesday on the second night of Ramadan. Sparklers and fireworks are common in celebrations during the holy month.
The Israeli police said that an assailant, whom they did not name, was shot after he “endangered” officers by launching a firework directly at them during a night of “violent disturbances” in the Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem. He was pronounced dead at a hospital, the police said in a statement.
An investigation has been opened, according to the justice ministry.
The Palestinian Authority’s news agency, Wafa, identified the person killed as Rami Hamdan al-Halhuli, 13. Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem, where he was pronounced dead, said he was 12; it was not immediately possible to reconcile the discrepancy in age.
Medics arriving on the scene found him critically injured with a chest wound and performed C.P.R., according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society. It said he was transferred to an ambulance belonging to Magen David Adom, Israel’s nonprofit emergency medical service, and taken to the hospital in Jerusalem.
The Jerusalem Governorate of the Palestinian Authority posted a video on Tuesday that it said captured the moment the youth was shot. After he launches a firework, he falls to the ground. The Times has verified that the video was filmed near the checkpoint of the Shuafat camp; no Israeli troops of police are visible in the brief clip.
Johnatan Reiss and Arijeta Lajka contributed reporting.