JERUSALEM, February 10, 2018 (WAFA) – A United Nations agency raised on Friday concern about excessive use of force by Israeli soldiers when quelling Palestinian protests against the US decision recognizing Jerusalem as capital of Israel.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its Monthly Humanitarian Bulletin for January 2018 that there was a noticeable rise in Palestinian deaths and injuries in clashes and protests following the December 6 US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
“Following the United States’ recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel on 6 December 2017, the occupied Palestinian territory experienced heightened tensions and violence, mainly Palestinian protests and clashes, which resulted in a significant rise in casualties versus previous months,” said the report.
It said that as of the end of January, 20 Palestinians had been killed and over 5,000 injured. “Some of the incidents during this period have raised concern about possible excessive use of force by Israeli forces,” said OCHA, adding that 17 of the Palestinian fatalities during this period occurred during confrontations with Israeli forces, mostly following protests against the US announcement on Jerusalem, as well as during some of the over 650 search and arrest operations carried out by Israeli forces. Of these fatalities, eight occurred in the West Bank and nine in the Gaza Strip, and four were children aged between 15 and 17.
The death and injuries toll has actually increased since January as four more Palestinians were killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces (one alleged to have shot a settler dead last month was gunned down near Jenin and a second shot dead by civilian Israelis for an alleged stabbing attack near Hebron), and hundreds more injured in the first 10 days of February.
In response to the level of casualties during clashes along the fence in Gaza, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights raised “serious concerns as to whether the force used by Israeli forces was properly calibrated to the threat,” and called on Israel to open independent and impartial investigations into incidents that have resulted in injury or death, “with a view to holding the perpetrators accountable for any crimes committed.”
OCHA said a case study of excessive use of force by Israeli soldiers against Palestinians during January was that of Musab Tamimi.
On 3 January 2018, a 16-year old Palestinian boy from Deir Nitham village, northwest of Ramallah, was shot and killed by an Israeli soldier during clashes. The clashes reportedly erupted as children began throwing stones at Israeli forces in an attempt to secure the release of a mentally ill 18-year-old man detained by the soldiers.
Eyewitnesses reported that one of the boys, Musab Tamimi, stepped into the middle of the road, apparently to see where the soldiers were standing, and was struck in the neck by a live round fired by a soldier partially concealed by olive trees. He was later pronounced dead.
The Israeli army first claimed that, “the soldiers said he (the victim) appeared to be holding a gun, prompting them to open fire.” The spokesperson added that it was not immediately confirmed that the boy had been armed at the time of the shooting, and that the circumstances were being investigated. A video and photos taken by activists present during the events confirm that the boy was not carrying a weapon when he was shot.
The highest number of Palestinians injured by Israeli forces in a single month in 2017 (14 fatalities and 4,574 injuries) was in December. This was followed by July (14 fatalities and 1,771 injuries) when widespread protests and clashes took place due to the installation of metal detectors at the entrance of Al-Haram Al-Sharif (Al-Aqsa Mosque) in Jerusalem.
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