REPORT: Hamas Invented Story Of Israeli Sniper Killing Double Amputee

In a expose from the Committee For Accuracy In Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), the death of a Palestinian double amputee last December that was attributed by Palestinians to an Israel Defense Force (IDF) sniper seems to have been a story invented by Hamas for the Western media.

As CAMERA notes:

CAMERA previously examined other aspects of the Abu Thuraya story, prompting numerous media corrections regarding both the unclear circumstances of his death and how he lost his legs. (Archival video located by the Associated Press revealed that the latter occurred in the course of his participation in clashes against Israeli forces, and not during an Israeli airstrike, as his family had claimed.) Presspectiva, CAMERA’s Hebrew department, highlighted videos filmed shortly before Abu Thuraya joined the riots at the fence in which he declares his desire to die “as a martyr.” Also pointed out was the absence of any photos of Abu Thuraya’s injury right after he was shot, despite the abundance of images released of the incident.

In March, the IDF released the results of their investigation, concluding that soldiers had stopped firing at least one hour before the time the Palestinians claimed Thuraya was shot.

CAMERA points out that the Hamas-affiliated Shehab News Agency released two entirely different videos supposedly showing the death of Abu Thuraya.

The first video was published on December 15, 2017, the day of Abu Thuraya’s death. The video appeared under the headline: “The moment of the martyrdom of Ibrahim Abu Thuyara by the bullets of the occupation east of Gaza“:

As CAMERA notes, “In this video, Abu Thuraya is first seen in a wheelchair with about three other men next to him. He is then seen being carried away, supposedly right after he was shot. The sun appears low in the sky, and the sky is dark, suggesting the time of day to be late in the afternoon, or dusk. The people surrounding Abu Thuraya are wearing long sleeves and sweatshirts or jackets. Abu Thuraya is carried by a man in a long sleeved shirt and black hat, assisted by a man with a beige vest, dark shirt and jeans. Neither are wearing glasses. They are accompanied by a large throng of men shouting loudly and indistinctly.

The CAMERA site shows the images.

But a second video seemingly shows the head injury that reportedly caused Abu Thuraya’s death. Palestinian Red Crescent documents claimed the wound was located above his left eye. But in the video, no sign of injury over Abu Thuraya’s left eye can be seen; instead, a single, large red stain is visible on the middle-upper part of his forehead.

CAMERA continues, “In a further discrepancy, a photo released of Abu Thuraya at his funeral shows two distinct spots of red over both eyes — a concentrated, intense spot over the left eye and longer, lighter streak over the right. That there is any blood at all remaining on the deceased at the funeral, raises questions in itself: There is an obligation in Islam to thoroughly cleanse the deceased before his or her funeral and burial. Even more bizarre is that the location of the wounds are in an entirely different location on Abu Thuraya than what appeared on the video purporting to show Abu Thuraya’s death.”

The CAMERA site shows comparisons of the wound in the second video and the picture from the funeral; In the funeral photo there is no sign of the injury that is visible in the video and vice versa.

CAMERA asks, “Why were two different videos of the same incident released? Why were the two videos filmed at different times of the day (or perhaps not even on the same day) with different people surrounding and carrying Abu Thuraya? Why were apparent blood stains allowed to remain on Abu Thuraya’s face at his funeral in contravention of Muslim practice? Why do the two photos — in video and in funeral photo — show entirely different locations of injury? How and when did Abu Thuraya actually die?”