VIDEO: Israeli troops kill Palestinian man following altercation at West Bank checkpoint
A combo image shows the altercation and Ahmad Kahla with his family.
Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank on Sunday following an altercation at a military checkpoint, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, the latest death in a monthslong spiral of violence between Israelis and Palestinians.
The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the man killed as Ahmad Kahla, 45.
The circumstances of the shooting were in dispute.
Maher Shafiq, a Palestinian witness, said the violence erupted after motorists began honking their horns due to lengthy delays in allowing cars to pass through the checkpoint. He said soldiers fired a stun grenade that hit the Kahla's car, prompting him to yell at them.
He said soldiers began beating the man and dragged him out of the car.
"He tried to defend himself, so one of the soldiers shot him in cold blood,” Shafiq said.
A video circulating on social media showed what appeared to be an altercation, with a man struggling and jostling with a soldier, and the sounds of two gunshots before he falls to the ground.
The Israeli army claimed the man tried to grab a soldier's weapon, while witnesses and relatives said he was shot while trying to defend himself during an inspection that turned violent.
The Israeli military said soldiers spotted what they deemed a suspicious vehicle that refused to stop for a "routine inspection” near the West Bank town of Silwad.
A clash broke out when the soldiers attempted to detain one of the people in the vehicle, and soldiers opened fire when a passenger tried to grab a soldier's weapon.
Rights groups accuse Israel of using excessive force against Palestinians. The military says it contends with complex, life-threatening situations.
