The video shows a soldier aim and fire his weapon at a Palestinian man's legs

An Israeli human rights group has released a video that shows an Israeli soldier shooting a blindfolded Palestinian man with a rubber coated steel bullet at close range.

BTselem released the video on Sunday, saying it had forwarded a copy to the Israeli military police and was demanding an investigation be opened.

The video shows a Palestinian man, whom BTselem named as Ashraf Abu Rahma, handcuffed and blindfolded standing by a group of Israeli soldiers.

One soldier aims his weapon at the Abu Rahma's legs, from about 1.5 metres away, and appears to fire at him.

A statement on BTselem's website said Abu Rahma stated that the bullet hit his left toe.

The Israeli army admitted one of its soldiers had fired the shot and called the incident "a stark violation" of its rules of conduct.

"The injury was sustained when an IDF [Israeli army] soldier fired an anti-riot weapon in close proximity to the detained Palestinian man, who had been arrested for taking part in a violent riot," the statement said.

The army said it would investigate the incident.

The rights group said the incident took place on July 7, in the village of Nilin in the West Bank and had been filmed by a fourteen-year-old Palestinian girl in Nilin.

* Source: Aljazeera