A chilling video released by Jerusalem-based human rights organization B'Tselem on Tuesday showing three IDF soldiers cheering after one of them shot a Palestinian protester in the occupied of the West Bank, has caused an uproar on social media.
The incident took place last Friday on April 13 at around 2 p.m., when clashes broke out after about 30 residents of the Palestinian village of Madama, in the south of Nablus tried to remove a roadblock placed by the Israeli military to get to their homes.
Shortly after, 11 IDF soldiers arrived at the scene and "residents threw stones at the soldiers from a distance of 50-80 meters, and the soldiers fired stun grenades and rubber-coated metal bullets at the villagers," B'Tselem reported.
Three soldiers are then seen calmly discussing when and whom to shoot, with one telling his colleague to wait to allow the residents to come closer.
"We need one good hit and that's it. That'll teach them not to throw stones," the soldier says.
After 'successfully' shooting a protester, the soldier who took the shot jumps up, joyfully exclaiming "I hit him, son of a b****!"
"One live bullet and this whole thing would be over," the third is heard mumbling, to which the one who gave directions to the sniper of the group replies "We don't fire live ammunition. We don't need it."
In the clashes, seven Palestinians suffered injuries from the rubber-coated bullets, two of whom were taken to a hospital in Nablus.
"Joyfully cheering about shooting a person trying to clear the access road to his home and calmly discussing other ways to hit him and the other people with him are part of the discordant soundtrack accompanying 51 years of occupation," B'Tselem said of the incident.
The footage comes not long after another video of an Israeli sniper shooting a seemingly unarmed and motionless Palestinian man in the Gaza Strip emerged. After taking the shot, the sniper and his comrades were heard whooping and laughing. The incident, which had taken place on Dec. 22, came under international scrutiny and was widely shared on social media.
The latest incidents are likely to add to international concerns over the violence, which human rights groups have said involved rubber bullets as well as live fire against unarmed demonstrators posing no immediate threat to life.
Since March 30, when the peaceful Marches of Return and Breaking of the Siege began, at least 41 Palestinians have been killed and almost 4,000 others injured by Israeli attacks.
The border rallies in Gaza are part of a six-week protest set to culminate on May 15. That day will mark the 70th anniversary of Israel's establishment -- an event Palestinians refer to as "the 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. They also aim to break the 12-year siege of the Gaza Strip.
