Ofer Ohana, a volunteer for Hatzala emergency services, confirms that he reported Asher Palmer's handgun was missing and that the "accident" was likely the result of foul play, immediately upon arriving on the scene.
Ohana told HebronVideo: "I saw a man in his twenties and a baby who was a few months old lying in the car lifeless, we attempted resuscitation. I saw a Magen David Adom paramedic and a female military paramedic."
"Then the professionals from the army and police came and combed the area, they said it was an accident. Today it seems they are changing their story and saying it was a murderous terror attack and a father and baby were murdered."
"Unfortunately the soldiers here, even if they see a murderer with a rock in his hand, they will not fire at him because these are their orders regarding opening fire. The policy today is to cause as few Palestinian casualties as possible even when this occurs at our expense, and that is the result."
He added that IDF soldiers are rendered powerless by the orders from above that prevent them from opening fire at Arabs, and that as long as the orders are not changed, even massive IDF presence will not make much of a difference in the security situation.
An IDF soldier serving in Judea and Samaria told Arutz Sheva that soldiers who are pummeled with rocks when they enter Arab villages are not even allowed to fire in the air, but only to use stun grenades and tear gas. Some of the rocks are veritable boulders that are dropped from rooftops. The situation "definitely feels life threatening," he added.
The IDF, for its part, is trying to respond in ways that prevent escalation that might get out of hand, but low key response to Arab violence encourages more terror attacks. . All in all, a Catch-22 situation.