The Justice Ministry division that investigates police malpractice has closed the case against a policeman who killed a youth with a sponge-tipped bullet in August 2014.

The youth, Mohammed Sunuqrut, 16, was shot in the head with a sponge-tipped bullet during a demonstration in East Jerusalem. The black bullet used by the shooter is regarded as the heaviest and most dangerous of its kind in the police arsenal.

The shooter, a Border Police officer, was not trained to fire sponge-tipped bullets of the type used, the investigation found.

Nevertheless, the investigators of the Police Investigation Department decided that there was insufficient evidence to bring the officer to trial. The case was transferred to the police for possible disciplinary action.

Dozens of cases of serious injury have been documented since the black bullets were first introduced into East Jerusalem about two years ago. They include many cases of children and youths losing eyes as a result of black bullet injuries.

Open gallery view Over 30 people have been seriously injured by sponge-tipped bullets, according to ACRI statistics. Credit: Emil Salman

Sunuqrut's family maintained that was not involved in the stone throwing in his home neighborhood of Wadi Joz. In a letter to his father, a senior officer in the investigation division wrote that "the policeman claims to have shot a single bullet at the legs of the youths, who were standing on a ridge at the time."

"As a consequence of the firing, the sponge-tipped bullet hit the head of the deceased, who fell to the ground. The policeman reported the fire to his commander and a team of fighters rushed to the deceased. Members of the team secured the area and called for medical assistance."

The letter was the first acknowledgement by the state that Sunuqrut had died as a result of being shot with a sponge-tipped bullet. Initially the police had maintained that his head hit the ground after a fall.

"After an intensive inquiry into the circumstances of the incident, it was found that a head injury caused by a sponge-tipped bullet caused the death of he deceased. It was also found that the policeman was not trained to use the model of bullet fired. It needs to be stated that the policeman was authorized to fire sponge-tipped bullets, though of a different type."

"It was also found that the sponge-tipped bullet was fired at a distance in keeping with the procedures at the time. That said, in the light of the topography of the place, the location of the deceased's head injury and the circumstances of the shooting, it was not possible to disprove the claim of the shooter that he aimed at the lower torso of the deceased, in keeping with procedure, and hit his head accidentally."

Given the evidence, the letter continued, the chances of getting a conviction in court were slim, so the decision was taken to close the file.

Over 30 people have been seriously injured by sponge-tipped bullets, according to statistics collected by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel. Of them, 14 have lost an eye. About half of the injured were children, one of whom, aged 12, suffers from irreversible brain damage.

With very few exceptions, none of the injured was suspected of lawbreaking and no charges were pressed against them.

According to ACRI, most of the injured were hit in the head, despite police procedures forbidding fire at the upper body and at children. Nevertheless, the police have not reconsidered the use of sponge-tipped bullets and criminal charges have not been filed against any of the shooters.

The attorney representing the Sunuqrut family announced that he intended appealing the decision to close the case.