Amnesty International says unlawful killing and injuring of Palestinian civilians by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank amounts to war crimes.
“The report presents a body of evidence that shows a harrowing pattern of unlawful killings and unwarranted injuries of Palestinian civilians by Israeli forces in the West Bank,” Philip Luther, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Amnesty International, said in a report on Thursday.
In the report, Amnesty blamed Israel for committing “war crimes and other serious violations of international law” against Palestinians.
Tel Aviv is allowing its “trigger happy soldiers” to kill Palestinians with virtual immunity, it said.
The London-based rights group added that Israeli forces have killed dozens of Palestinians in the past three years, with the Tel Aviv regime showing “callous disregard for human life.”
The group stated that in the cases it reviewed, Palestinians were not posing any imminent or direct threat to Israeli troops.
The 87-page report, entitled “Trigger-happy: Israel’s use of excessive force in the West Bank,” studied the killing of 45 Palestinians and wounding of thousands of others.
The group called for “independent, impartial, transparent and prompt investigation” into the killings.
“A strong message must be sent to Israeli soldiers and police officers that abuses will not go unpunished,” Luther urged.
Amnesty also called on the United States, the European Union and the rest of the international community to “suspend all transfers of munitions, weapons and other equipment to Israel” to pressure it to change.
Tel Aviv, however, rejected the report as biased.
MRS/MHB/SS
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