The IDF said on Thursday it would further investigate the death of a wheelchair-bound Palestinian who was killed in clashes last month over U.S. President Donald Trump's Dec. 6 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
The Dec. 15 death of Ibrahim Abu Thraya was denounced by the Palestinians and decried by U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad al-Hussein, who said the 29-year-old amputee was shot in the head by Israeli troops close to the Gaza-Israel border fence.
Abu Thraya was a regular at such demonstrations. In media interviews, he said he had lost both his legs in a 2008 Israeli missile strike in Gaza.
The medical records, which include a hospital report and a death certificate, say Abu Thraya was struck by a bullet above his left eye and died from bleeding in the brain. The same findings were detailed in a report by the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The reports did not specify who fired the bullet or what caliber it was.
Posters of Abu Thraya in a wheelchair, raising the Palestinian flag and flashing a "victory" sign, have become ubiquitous in Gaza. He has emerged as a symbol of resistance to Trump's Jerusalem move, which has outraged Palestinians who envision east Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
The IDF said its own operational investigation, carried out shortly after the incident, found that it was not possible to say what had killed Abu Thraya. It said that live fire had been used against the main instigators of the protest but not directed at Abu Thraya, and that it was impossible to determine the cause of his death.
"In order to further examine the case, including information received from organizations operating in the Gaza Strip, it was decided that the circumstances of Abu Thraya's death will also be examined by a Military Police investigation," the army said in a statement.
