Updated

The Israeli military says it has closed its investigation into the death of a Palestinian stone-thrower who was killed by a tear gas canister fired from close range by a soldier.

The Israeli rights group B'Tselem says the decision sends a message that soldiers will not be held accountable if they kill Palestinians.

Mustafa Tamimi was killed in a West Bank village in December 2011.

Tamimi was hurling rocks at a jeep when the soldier fired the tear gas canister from it. An Associated Press photograph of the incident shows Tamimi crumpled on the ground near the jeep.

The military said late Thursday that the soldier couldn't have seen Tamimi. B'Tselem says this doesn't explain why firing from a jeep with limited vision could be considered legal.