New documentary raises doubts regarding the death of Muhammad al-Dura

By JPOST.COM STAFF
The pictures of Muhammad al-Dura's father desperately trying to protect his son from stray bullets shocked millions as they flashed around the world, but a new documentary raises doubts regarding the alleged death of the 12-year-old Palestinian boy, who was supposedly killed by gunfire at the start of the second intifada in September 2000, the German Bild reported on Thursday. The IDF was accused of shooting him during a clash with Palestinian security forces in the Gaza Strip - an accusation the IDF ultimately rejected after an investigation and amid claims that he was killed by Palestinian fire According to the German newspaper, reporters Esther Schapira and Georg M. Hafner, who created the documentary 'Das Kind, der Tod und die Wahrheit,' found no hard evidence that al-Dura was actually killed and his father seriously wounded in the famous footage. Schapira was quoted as telling a local newspaper that thanks to biometric analysis he could say with certainty "that the child who was buried [following the incident] is not Muhammad al-Dura."