Press TV - A recently released video footage has showed Israeli forces shooting a disabled Palestinian man in the back, despite the military’s claim that he was killed during clashes in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli forces shot 22-year-old Mohammad Hossam Habali in Tulkarm on December 4 and the regime’s military claimed that its troops had been responding to "a violent riot” in which “dozens of Palestinians hurled rocks."

But a video has surfaced, showing no violent confrontation between the Israeli forces and a group of Palestinians gathered in the western part of the city.

The footage aired by a local television station shows Habali fall to the ground after being shot in the back as he walks with a group of other people in the early morning hours.

As shown in the footage, Habali, who used a cane to help him walk, was standing with a group of friends before the shootout occurred at the entrance to a restaurant. He was critically injured and transferred to the Tulkarm hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

Tulkarm resident and journalist Sami As-Sai has gained access to the footage using cameras set up near the site of the incident.

He told Haaretz that Israeli troops were just finishing a search in a nearby house when they saw a group of young people gathering at the entrance to the restaurant.

According to the journalist, the distance between the Palestinian group and the troops was about 80 meters.

Acquaintances of the victim said Khabali was physically disabled and cognitively impaired. He was known in the refugee camp in Tulkarm where he lived as someone who often looked to work simple odd jobs.

Israeli officials also claimed on Sunday that a Palestinian had opened fire on a group of settlers standing at a bus station near a settlement in the occupied West Bank, injuring six of them.

The Israeli military said that the shooting came from a passing Palestinian vehicle which fled the scene.

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked called on Prime Minister Netanyahu to annex the settlement of Ofra where the alleged shooting took place.

"I call on the prime minister to immediately annex the settlement of Ofra and grant it the status of a regular settlement in our country," Shaked said, adding "the legal opinion draft for Ofra is ready already."

The news followed a UN report which said violence and vandalism by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and their property have been on the rise since the beginning of the year 2018.
PressTV-Israel intensifies violence, vandalism in West Bank: UN
A report by the UN shows Israeli settler violence against Palestinians and vandalism have increased.

About 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.

Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent state, with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.

Israel's continued settlement expansion on Palestinian territories has been a major sticking point in Israeli-Palestinian talks, which have stalled since 2014.