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BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- A report released Friday by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem revealed that 19-year-old Muhammad Yudef Sebar Abu Hashhash, who was killed by an Israeli sniper on Aug. 16 during a military raid in Hebron’s al-Fawwar refugee camp, was not taken part in clashes at the time he was killed as was initially reported by media.

According to field research conducted by B’Tselem, Abu Hashhash, who was initially reported as 17-years-old, and other youths in the camp had climbed to the roof of a building and threw stones at soldiers who had also taken position on rooftops in the camp, something commonly seen during raids on Palestinian communities. B’Tselem reported that the youths continued periodically to climb to the roof and throw stones throughout the day.

Some ten Israeli soldiers entered the home of Bajes al-Hamuz nearby Abu Hashhash’s home at around noon, and proceeded to close the family in the bedroom as they ransacked their home. According to al-Hamuz, when the soldiers left their home some eight hours later, the family found a hole carved into the wall of their guestroom.

During the raid on the home of al-Hamuz, witnesses told B’Tselem that a sniper was positioned at the hole in the family’s guestroom located some 30 to 40 meters away from Abu Hashhash’s family home.

When Abu Hashhash climbed down from his roof and entered his home a little before 5 p.m., a group of youths gathered in the street and were attempting to hide from the Israeli sniper. Ayad al-Hamuz, a high school student and Abu Hashhash’s neighbor, told B’Tselem that Abu Hashhash exited his home and began walking toward the group of other youths, when he suddenly fell to the ground.

Ayad told B’tselem he heard a sound that sounded like “a shot fired through a silencer.”

“I ran over to him. He tried to get up but fell immediately. I tried to help him, to resuscitate him. It looked like he was badly hurt because he stopped moving and wasn’t breathing,” Ayad said to a field researcher from B’Tselem. “Some first aid volunteers who were in the area put him on a stretcher and carried him to the main road. A few minutes later, I found out he had died.”

Hashhash was killed by live fire, as the Israeli sniper shot him in his back, and the bullet exited through his chest right above his heart. The live fire that killed Hashhash was a “Ruger” bullet (0.22 caliber), considered less deadly than a normal bullet but has led to the death and injury of scores of Palestinians.

“I don’t know what made the sniper shoot the guy. It was quiet when he was hit, and for ten minutes before that,” Ayad continued in the report. “While I was standing in my doorway, I didn’t see any of the guys near me throw stones at Bajes al-Hamuz’ house, where the soldiers were. None of them even tried to cross the street because of the sniper.”

While using live fire on Palestinians is only permitted when Israeli soldiers are considered to be in imminent danger, they often open fire on Palestinians indiscriminately as a “crowd control” tactic. Since Abu Hashhash was merely walking out of his home at the time of his killing, Israeli forces were clearly not in any danger that would permit shooting a live bullet in the back of the 19-year-old.

According to B’Tselem’s research some 32 Palestinians were wounded in the raid, which lasted for nearly 24 hours, while Israeli forces searched 150 to 200 Palestinian homes, with the group reporting at least 28 of which sustained property damage.

The spokesperson of the Palestinian National Committee for Retrieving Bodies of Martyrs, Amin al-Bayed, told Ma’an at the time of the raid that “Israeli forces have positioned snipers on top of Palestinian rooftops, and snipers shot at lower body parts, mostly at legs, and injured tens of Palestinians.”

Local youth reportedly reacted to the forces, sparking clashes with the soldiers who fired live gunshots, tear gas, and rubber-coated steel bullets at the youth.

Palestinian Red Crescent staff told Ma’an that they provided medical care for 33 injured Palestinians in al-Fawwar, including five who suffered from live-bullet injuries, one of whom, later identified as Abu Hasshash was evacuated to the hospital after sustaining serious injuries where he was eventually reported dead.

Dozens more were injured with rubber-coated steel bullets.

Witnesses said Israeli soldiers stopped an ambulance belonging to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, which was trying to evacuate Abu Hasshash, and prevented the ambulance from leaving the camp.

The ambulance, locals said, was allowed to leave the refugee camp about an hour later.

UN medical sources said that they opened a makeshift medical clinic in the camp to compensate for the shortage of medical supplies of the clinic in the camp, adding that "many injured Palestinians were seen lying in the streets, and we are working along with Red Crescent teams to provide medical help.”

UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, called on Israel about a week after the raid to conduct a full investigation into the killing of Abu Hashhash.

The agency said in a statement that it was “gravely concerned” about the killing of Abu Hashhash and the numerous other injuries from Israeli live ammunition that led to the hospitalization of dozens of Palestinian civilians.

According to the UN, at least 52 other camp residents were injured, 32 of which in the lower extremities by live fire. At least 13 other camp residents had to be treated for severe tear gas inhalation, including a pregnant UNRWA teacher who required treatment after suffering from tear gas inhalation while she was at her home.

Israeli police and soldiers have come under heavy criticism over the past year by rights groups for excessive use of force against Palestinians -- against youth and children in particular -- who did not pose an immediate threat or who could have been detained through non-violent means.

A report recently released by the Palestinian NGO BADIL, the Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, warned of an intensification of the “systematic targeting” of Palestinian youth in the occupied Palestinian territory since the beginning of 2016.

“This targeting has taken the form of injuries and arbitrary killings by the use of live ammunition by the Israeli army in the context of arrest campaigns, military raids, and random wide searches which usually trigger clashes,” the statement said.

In addition to the deadly Aug. 16 raid of al-Fawwar, BADIL's initial investigations into the trend focused on the southern occupied West Bank district of Bethlehem, where at least 83 people have been shot with live ammunition since the beginning of the year, the majority in their legs and knees, causing both permanent and temporary disabilities.

The escalation of live fire injuries came amid reports of an Israeli army commander responsible for the near-nightly raids into Bethlehem's three refugee camps -- Duheisha, Aida, and Azza -- threatening to disable all the camp youth in Duheisha.

“These threats indicate that these actions are not accidental or isolated incidents, but rather result from a systematic Israeli military policy aimed at suppressing resistance, terrorizing Palestinian youth, and permanently injuring them and/or causing significant damage to their physical and mental well-being,” BADIL said in their statement.