Probe Into Autistic Palestinian Man Killing Hampered: Report

An Israeli investigation into the execution of an autistic Palestinian man by Israeli soldiers near his school in occupied East Jerusalem's Old City on May 30, is being impeded by an alleged lack of video evidence, Haaretz has reported Tuesday.

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Iyad al-Halak, 32, had been chased by Israeli border police officers, who then claimed that they thought he was carrying a weapon.

According to a source familiar with the investigation speaking to Haaretz, security cameras in the area did not document the killing.

Yet, reporters from the news outlet said they found at least ten cameras between the Old City's Lions' Gate, where the chase began, and the garbage room where Halak was killed, a distance representing around 150 meters.

Halak was diagnosed with low-functioning autism as a child and had trouble communicating with people. According to his father, Khairy Halak, his son had the mental capacity of an eight-year-old - and no concept of the dangerous reality of life under occupation around him.

Halak was given proper documentation by his special needs school, which he had attended for the past six years, that explained his disability so he could prove his condition to Israeli forces, as he was unable to do so himself.

Many have drawn a parallel between his fatal encounter with police and the murder in the United States of George Floyd, the black man who died after a police officer in Minneapolis pressed a knee into his neck, a few days before Halak's killing.

Palestinians, along with Halak's family, said earlier this month they have little hope that an investigation will result in any accountability.

Over the last decade, Israeli security forces have killed 3,408 Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories and within Israel, according to Israeli rights group B'Tselem. But of these cases, only five Israeli security personnel, including military and police, were convicted.