Disabled Palestinian protester 'killed by Israeli fire'

An autopsy of a disabled Palestinian protester killed in December shows that Israeli fire was responsible for his death, a Hamas-affiliated commission in Gaza said on Monday.

Ibrahim Abu Thuraya was shot dead during a day of demonstrations against US President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Israel's military said earlier this month it was opening an investigation into the death of the 29-year-old after previously saying it was not able to determine whether he had been killed by its soldiers' fire.

The justice ministry in Gaza announced on Sunday his body had been exhumed and on Monday a commission affiliated to Hamas said he had been shot by Israeli forces.

Emad al-Baz, from the organisation which Hamas tasks with gathering evidence about alleged Israeli crimes, told a news conference that multiple tests had been conducted on the body, including X-ray scans.

"The autopsy revealed the bullet entered above his left eye and stayed in his head."

El-Baz said the autopsy indicated the bullet was fired from some 30 meters away, the distance between protesters and the Israeli army.

The United Nations' human rights chief has said he was "truly shocked" by Abu Thuraya's death and demanded an "independent and impartial investigation".

Seventeen Palestinians have been killed since Trump's December 6 announcement, either in clashes with Israeli forces or airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.

Israeli military investigations have drawn criticism from rights groups as they rarely result in an indictment.

In over 700 cases in which Israeli soldiers have killed, injured or assaulted Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories, only three percent of investigations have led to any form of punishment, rights groups say.