Tel Aviv - The Israeli soldier arrested following the release of a video showing him shooting a handcuffed Palestinian protestor in the foot with a rubber-coated metal bullet has been released, Israel media reported Tuesday.

He was released after 24 hours in custody, the Ynet news website reported. Israeli military police arrested the soldier late Sunday.

The incident happened some two weeks ago in the Palestinian village of Nil'in, north-west of Jerusalem. A 14-year-old resident of the village filmed the incident and an Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem, published the video clip on Sunday, demanding the soldier be brought to justice.

The video clip has caused shock and outrage both in Israel and in the Palestinian areas. Palestinian officials reacted to the incident by calling on human rights organizations to intervene to "save the Palestinian people from the ongoing Israeli Holocaust against them."

Rahma was lightly wounded, according to the Israeli military.

The soldier told interrogators that he shot the rubber bullet at protestor Ashraf Abu Rahma, 27, because he believed he had heard his commander give him the order to shoot.

The commander, however, said he gave no such order, but took responsibility for the incident because his subordinate may have "misunderstood" his instruction to "shake" and "scare" the protestor. (dpa)