Israeli shooting of injured Palestinian ‘war crime’: Palestine

The Palestinian Authority denounced the fatal shooting of an injured Palestinian youth by Israeli police as a "war crime."

Mohammad Salimah, 25, was shot dead by Israeli police on Saturday near the Damascus Gate outside Jerusalem's Old City for allegedly carrying out a knife attack.

A video shot by activists showed an Israeli police officer shooting Salimah when he was already lying on the ground. Another video showed Israeli police officers with guns drawn preventing medics from reaching the injured youth.

In a statement cited by the official news agency Wafa, the Palestinian Authority said Salimah's shooting was a "documented war crime."

"This crime is part of the Israeli escalation against our people, and a continuation of the daily killings that cannot be ignored," the statement said.

The authority called on the international community to "immediately intervene to stop Israel's crimes, provide protection to the Palestinian people, end the occupation, and create an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital."

The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) called the Israeli killing of Salimah an "extra-judicial execution."

Several Palestinian and international rights groups have accused Israeli forces of shooting at Palestinians who do not pose any threat or danger to them and of being indifferent towards Palestinian lives.