Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described the killing of an autistic Palestinian man by Israeli police last month as a “tragedy”.
Iyad Halaq, 32, was shot in occupied East Jerusalem as he walked to his special needs school on 30 May.
Police said officers suspected Mr Halaq had a weapon and that they opened fire when he failed to obey orders to stop. It was discovered he was unarmed.
Mr Netanyahu had not commented publicly on the killing until now.
On Sunday he offered his condolences and said he expected a full investigation into the shooting.
Mr Netanyahu said Israelis “share in the sorrow” of Iyad Halaq's family
“What happened with Iyad Halaq is a tragedy,” Mr Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting. “This is a man with limitations – autism – who was under suspicion, we know, wrongly, of being a terrorist in a very sensitive location.”
The Halaq family's lawyer Jad Qadmani said “suspicion of criminal action on behalf of the officers is growing”, and he expected “those responsible for the investigation will proceed and bring the officers to justice”, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
In recent years there has been a…
