Israeli military admits killing Palestinian toddler by mistake, closes initial investigation

By ISABEL DEBRE
Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says it has closed an initial investigation into its shooting and killing of a Palestinian toddler in the occupied West Bank earlier this month. The military said Wednesday in a rare admission of wrongdoing that the 2-year-old boy was killed unintentionally when a soldier mistook him and his father for militants on the run. The military said it would reprimand one of the officers involved in the killing. The army hasn’t yet decided whether to proceed with a criminal investigation. Rights groups say that the Israeli military does too little to investigate and punish its soldiers for the killing of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and that it creates a pattern of impunity.