The Palestinian officials and human rights activists have heavily slammed Israeli backing for the actions of Israeli snipers were filmed celebrating after shooting down a Palestinian standing inside the Gaza Strip.

The video clip which was first posted on Monday and has been widely shared on social media shows that the soldiers from Israel are heard discussing opening fire on what appeared to be Palestinians posing no immediate threat, nor engaging in any hostile acts near the fence.

A shooter then appears to open fire on one, knocking the person to the ground by opening fire.

“Wow. What a video! Yes! That son of a b***h,” one of the voices behind the camera is heard saying in Hebrew.

It was not possible to understand whether the person shot in the video died.

Israel’s military said in a statement that the incident in the video “apparently” dated back several months.

The footage surfaces at a time at a time when Israel’s military faces mounting criticism over its use of live fire on the Gaza Strip border and the killing of at least 31 Palestinians protesting there in two mass demonstrations in as many weeks. More than 1,400 Palestinians were also reported to have got wounded.

The video clip surfacing on social media elicited sharp criticism from Palestinian officials, with Saeb Erekat, chief negotiator of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, saying in a statement on Tuesday that it represented “hate and contempt” for a Palestinian’s life.

This, according to him, was “a reflection of the cruel mentality of Israel’s military occupation and the drive of its systematic shoot-to-kill policy against the Palestinian civilians, in defiance of their very existence on the land of Palestine and in a flagrant violation of all international and humanitarian norms and laws”.

The video footage drew similar criticism from Jamal Zahalka who is Palestinian member of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament.

“This recording is an example that proves the rule. This is a killing spree commanded by [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, [Defence Minister Avigdor] Lieberman and [Chief of General Staff Gadi] Eisenkot,” said Zahalka, chairman of the Joint List.

“No wonder the soldiers behave this way when ministers, legislators, the media and public opinion are party to the jubilation at the mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza,” he said.

But the Israeli right-wing politicians have expressed their full support for the shooting.

“The sniper deserves a commendation, the photographer a court martial,” Lieberman said, according to Israeli media.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett belonging to the far-right Jewish Home party, also justified the behaviour depicted in the video.

“Judging soldiers because they are not expressing themselves elegantly while they are defending our borders is not serious,” Bennett told army radio.

Israeli Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan wanted to downplay the actions of those in the video: “We are going overboard with this video,” said Erdan, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.

“It doesn’t show gunfire at everyone, but at a terrorist who approaches the barrier in an unauthorised zone coming from an area controlled by Hamas terrorists,” he told public radio.

“I am convinced that everything is OK,” he added, while also speaking of a “human reaction” by the soldiers confronted with a “tense situation”.

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