Last update - 00:00 26/07/2007
IDF suspends officer whose troops shot a Palestinian without justification
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent
The Israel Defense Forces suspended a platoon commander Thursday, after his troops shot and wounded a Palestinian civilian without any apparent justification in the Southern Hebron Hills earlier in the day.
The Palestinian man was moderately to seriously wounded in the incident. The soldiers said the man aroused their suspicion.
The troops entered a Palestinian taxi for reasons that are not yet clear, and at some point during the incident shot the Palestinian civilian.
Following an initial investigation of the incident, IDF troop commander in the West Bank Brigadier-General Noam Tivon decided to suspend the officer from all operational activity in the West Bank.
The IDF said the investigation into the matter is ongoing.
Meanwhile, IDF soldiers killed five Palestinians in two separate incidents on Thursday, one in the morning hours during a military incursion in the Gaza Strip and the other a few hours later at a West Bank checkpoint.