New video footage has emerged which the family of a Palestinian teenager abducted and murdered earlier this week says shows the moment of his kidnapping.
Mohamed Abu Khdeir, 17, was snatched by three men in car while he was waiting to pray outside a mosque next to his home in east Jerusalem. His badly burned body was discovered in a forest on the western side of the city.
Senior Palestinian figures, including President Mahmoud Abbas, have said they believe the teenager was targeted by Israeli extremists in a revenge attack for the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teenagers three weeks ago.
This claim appeared to be bolstered by the emergence of the footage which the boy's family says captures the abduction – and suggests that he was randomly targeted outside a mosque and did not know his kidnappers.
Mohamed Abu Khdeir. Photograph: Rex/Xinhua News Agency
The video, shown to the Guardian at the family home in Shuafat, was
found on a CCTV camera a little way from the place where he went
missing.
Relatives insist that it shows Khdeir about a hundred yards away sitting on a wall, a slumped dark shadow who moves occasionally.
Dated and timestamped, the footage appears consistent with the timings and account given by witnesses, although it is not possible to see any identifiable features or to verify the claims.
Crucially the video appears to suggest that the abductors spotted the teenager sitting alone by chance, returned to watch him and let cars pass before approaching.
The key footage begins at 3.45am. Several cars pass where the boys is sitting, heading through a junction with some lights.
Then a car stops at the lights before reversing back down the road, past the boy, and out of frame. At 3.50am two figures in lighter clothing walk into the frame and towards Mohamed. They appear to engage him in conversation and then the car moves into shot again, drawing level.
The car pulls forward again past the group and then reverses amid what appears to be a struggle. When the car drives away at 3.51am the figure who had been sitting on the wall is gone.
The disclosure of the tape came as the Israeli military bolstered forces along the increasingly volatile border with the Gaza Strip in response to intensifying rocket fire, which has added to the mounting sense of crisis.
In a sign of the seriousness of the situation, the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, convened his security cabinet for a fourth time since Monday.
Although military and political sources have made clear they would like to avoid a serious conflict in Gaza with the militant Islamist group Hamas, whom Netanyahu blames for the kidnap and murder of the three Israeli teenagers, sources made clear that the group had a deadline of 24 hours to halt rocket fire.
Commenting on the new deployment of troops in Gaza, Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, said forces were taking up "defence positions" in Israeli communities that have been struck by the rockets from Gaza. He did not comment on the scale of the deployment. It follows air strikes against the territory early on Thursday.
It is the first time since the border began to heat up in mid-June – in tandem with an Israeli military sweep and search for the three abducted Israeli youths in the West Bank - that Israel has announced troop movements near the Gaza Strip.
"We are moving and we have moved forces," Lerner said in a conference call with foreign journalists. "Everything we are doing is to de-escalate the situation but on the other hand to be prepared if they don't de-escalate."
Israel, he said, has "no interest in deepening the conflict with Gaza – the absolute opposite is true".
Tensions in Jerusalem remained high in anticipation of Khdeir's funeral. No time has been set for the burial, an event that will stir strong emotions among Palestinians and could trigger further confrontation.
The military said Palestinians in the Gaza Strip fired 14 projectiles into Israel on Thursday and that rockets struck two homes in the southern town of Sderot, causing no casualties.
Mohamed Abu Khdeir, 17, was snatched by three men in car while he was waiting to pray outside a mosque next to his home in east Jerusalem. His badly burned body was discovered in a forest on the western side of the city.
Senior Palestinian figures, including President Mahmoud Abbas, have said they believe the teenager was targeted by Israeli extremists in a revenge attack for the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teenagers three weeks ago.
This claim appeared to be bolstered by the emergence of the footage which the boy's family says captures the abduction – and suggests that he was randomly targeted outside a mosque and did not know his kidnappers.
Mohamed Abu Khdeir. Photograph: Rex/Xinhua News Agency
The video, shown to the Guardian at the family home in Shuafat, was
found on a CCTV camera a little way from the place where he went
missing.Relatives insist that it shows Khdeir about a hundred yards away sitting on a wall, a slumped dark shadow who moves occasionally.
Dated and timestamped, the footage appears consistent with the timings and account given by witnesses, although it is not possible to see any identifiable features or to verify the claims.
Crucially the video appears to suggest that the abductors spotted the teenager sitting alone by chance, returned to watch him and let cars pass before approaching.
The key footage begins at 3.45am. Several cars pass where the boys is sitting, heading through a junction with some lights.
Then a car stops at the lights before reversing back down the road, past the boy, and out of frame. At 3.50am two figures in lighter clothing walk into the frame and towards Mohamed. They appear to engage him in conversation and then the car moves into shot again, drawing level.
The car pulls forward again past the group and then reverses amid what appears to be a struggle. When the car drives away at 3.51am the figure who had been sitting on the wall is gone.
The disclosure of the tape came as the Israeli military bolstered forces along the increasingly volatile border with the Gaza Strip in response to intensifying rocket fire, which has added to the mounting sense of crisis.
In a sign of the seriousness of the situation, the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, convened his security cabinet for a fourth time since Monday.
Although military and political sources have made clear they would like to avoid a serious conflict in Gaza with the militant Islamist group Hamas, whom Netanyahu blames for the kidnap and murder of the three Israeli teenagers, sources made clear that the group had a deadline of 24 hours to halt rocket fire.
Commenting on the new deployment of troops in Gaza, Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, said forces were taking up "defence positions" in Israeli communities that have been struck by the rockets from Gaza. He did not comment on the scale of the deployment. It follows air strikes against the territory early on Thursday.
It is the first time since the border began to heat up in mid-June – in tandem with an Israeli military sweep and search for the three abducted Israeli youths in the West Bank - that Israel has announced troop movements near the Gaza Strip.
"We are moving and we have moved forces," Lerner said in a conference call with foreign journalists. "Everything we are doing is to de-escalate the situation but on the other hand to be prepared if they don't de-escalate."
Israel, he said, has "no interest in deepening the conflict with Gaza – the absolute opposite is true".
Tensions in Jerusalem remained high in anticipation of Khdeir's funeral. No time has been set for the burial, an event that will stir strong emotions among Palestinians and could trigger further confrontation.
The military said Palestinians in the Gaza Strip fired 14 projectiles into Israel on Thursday and that rockets struck two homes in the southern town of Sderot, causing no casualties.
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