News / Palestine

Amnesty raps Israel for ‘unlawful killings’ of Palestinians

Wednesday, 28 September 2016 5:01 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 28 September 2016 7:12 PM ]

An Israeli soldier kicks a Palestinian man as the regime forces try to arrest him in the West Bank city of al-Khalil, aka Hebron, on September 20, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Amnesty International has condemned extrajudicial executions of Palestinians at the hands of Israeli troops, accusing the regime forces of being indifferent to human life by employing “lethal” force against the Palestinian citizens.

The London-based rights organization voiced concerns over Israeli conduct in a statement published on Wednesday, almost a year after a surge in Israeli violence in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Israeli soldiers are displaying “an appalling disregard for human life by using reckless and unlawful lethal force against Palestinians,” the statement said.

The rights group also noted that it had sent a memorandum to the Israeli authorities on September 14 detailing 20 cases of “apparently unlawful killings of Palestinians... [to seek] clarification about the status of investigations.”

In at least 15 of the 20 cases, Palestinians were fatally shot despite posing no threat to life in what appear to be “extrajudicial executions,” the group added.

It further said that its research indicated the Tel Aviv regime's consistent failure to deliver justice for Palestinian victims and their families.

Meanwhile, Philip Luther, the research and advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, stated that the “worrying rise” in unlawful killings over the last year has been “fostered by a culture of impunity.”

Luther further called on Israel to "urgently reform its investigation systems" in an attempt to bring those responsible for extrajudicial executions to justice.

Mourners carry the body of 38-year-old Palestinian Iyad Hamed during his funeral in the West Bank town of Silwad after he was killed by Israeli troops at the entrance of the town on August 26, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Israeli police and soldiers have recently come under heavy criticism for the unjustified killings of Palestinian citizens, who did not pose a threat or who could have been detained through non-lethal means.

The occupied territories have been the scene of heightened tensions since August 2015, when Tel Aviv imposed restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem al-Quds in an alleged bid to change the status quo of the Muslim site.

Almost 250 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in what is regarded as the third Palestinian Intifada (uprising) since the beginning of last October.

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