Five Palestinians killed in 14 months when soldiers in ambush used lethal force

[Jefferson23]

Published:
11 Mar 2014

During the past 14 months, 5 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank by soldiers who ambushed them. The latest was Saji Darwish, who was killed yesterday by a bullet to the head in what the army characterized as "an ambush to catch stone throwers. The army stated that the soldiers fired at a Palestinian who threw stones at an Israeli car and bus. B'Tselem has yet to locate eye witnesses to the incident, but a neighbor who overheard the incident identified live firing sounds only.

No information was provided as to the directions the soldiers received, whether they were instructed to try and arrest the stone throwers, and whether they were armed with crowd control weapons or live ammunition only. It is unclear whether officers made it clear that live ammunition can be fired only under mortal danger.

The army must open a criminal investigation of the incident. It should examine not only the soldiers' actions, and whether an attempt was made to arrest Darwish or use less lethal measures, but also command responsibility for the incident, the open fire regulations given to soldiers, and the decision to set up an ambush instead of positioning soldiers openly in the area.

Soldiers must not set up ambushes intended to catch stone throwers, armed with only lethal weapons. Soldiers on these operations must also be equipped with less lethal means such as tear gas and rubber coated metal bullets. It must be made clear to the entire chain of command that firing live ammunition is only permitted at people who are endangering the lives of soldiers or other persons.

http://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20140311_soldiers_ambush_stone_throwers_using_lethal_force