RAMALLAH, December 16, 2015 (WAFA) – Israeli soldiers late Monday night opened fire at a car, and detained its driver for about for four hours near the village of Silwad, east of Ramallah, according to local sources.

The sources said soldiers stationed at the village’s western entrance opened live fire at the car of Nasim Abu-Thria, 38, a local Palestinians, before forcing him out of the car. 

The soldiers then handcuffed him and detained him for about four hours, during which he was severally beaten by soldiers. Abu-Thria told WAFA that soldiers struck him repeatedly with the butts of their rifles.

He added that soldiers attempted to lead him into a wild area near the road, in what he described as an apparent attempt to shoot him. He was then taken to a nearby military outpost for about four hours before he was released.

Last October, Philip Luther, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at Amnesty International, said that Israeli forces seem increasingly prone to using lethal force against anyone they perceive as posing a threat, without ensuring that the threat is real.

“A clear pattern has emerged of lethal force being used unlawfully by Israeli forces following a wave of recent stabbing attacks by Palestinians against Israeli civilians and military or police forces in Israel and the occupied West Bank,” he said.

“There is mounting evidence that, as tensions have risen dramatically, in some cases Israeli forces appear to have ripped up the rulebook and resorted to extreme and unlawful measures.”

The group stressed that Israeli forces must end this pattern of unlawful killings and bring all those responsible to justice.

M.N/T.R