The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has been widely criticised for releasing a video in which footage of killed Palestinian medic Razan al-Najjar has been edited in order to portray her as “not an angel”.
The 21-year-old was shot in the chest by an IDF sniper during protests on the Gaza-Israel border on 1 June as she attended wounded protesters.
On Thursday several Israeli government and army officials tweeted the video – named “Hamas’ use of human shields must stop” – which shows part of an interview Ms Najjar gave with Lebanese al Mayeen TV where she says she was acting as a “human shield”.
In the full clip, however, the young woman goes on to say she was present at the protests to “save the wounded at the front lines”. She does not mention Hamas, the militant group which controls the Gaza Strip.
Her death has become something of a rallying cry for Palestinians, who have named her “the Angel of Mercy”. In footage that has emerged since, she can be seen throwing a tear gas canister away from people lying on the ground.
“Razan al Najjar is not the angel of mercy that Hamas propaganda attempts to portray,” the IDF’s Arabic language spokesperson Avichay Edraee wrote on Twitter.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has been widely criticised for releasing a video in which footage of killed Palestinian medic Razan al-Najjar has been edited in order to portray her as “not an angel”.
On Thursday several Israeli government and army officials tweeted the video – named “Hamas’ use of human shields must stop” – which shows part of an interview Ms Najjar gave with Lebanese al Mayeen TV where she says she was acting as a “human shield”.
“Razan al Najjar is not the angel of mercy that Hamas propaganda attempts to portray,” the IDF’s Arabic language spokesperson Avichay Edraee wrote on Twitter.
The video has been fiercely criticised by Palestinians and rights activists as an attempt to justify Ms Najjar’s death.
“This is a Palestinian video which was distributed throughout social media platforms with the purpose of displaying the activity of Razan Al-Najjar as a ‘white angel’”, an emailed statement from the IDF said.
Gaza has been rocked by two months of protests over the Strip’s dire living conditions and the Palestinian right of return, during which Israeli sniper fire has killed at least 121 people.
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