Human Rights Watch (HRW) has slammed Israel’s “indiscriminate or deliberate” use of fire on observers and Palestinian demonstrators. In a statement on Sunday, the rights group said the Tel Aviv regime’s use of live rounds against protesters as well as one of its field investigators in the occupied West Bank contravened international law.
“Indiscriminate or deliberate firing on observers and demonstrators who pose no imminent threat violates the international standards that bind Israeli security forces,” said Kenneth Roth, the executive director of the international rights group.
Earlier on October 6, Israeli forces shot and wounded a HRW researcher, whose name hasn't been revealed, while she was observing a rally outside the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.
The HRW employee was hit by two rubber-coated steel bullets. One hit her in the back and the other deflected off her torso, injuring her jaw. A third bullet, apparently live, either grazed her hand or exploded nearby, sending shrapnel into her hand.
Several other Palestinians were also injured during the same demonstration.
At least 24 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,300 others injured by Israeli troops in the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip since October 1.
According to other reports from the occupied Palestinian territories on Sunday, at least 20 students were injured, including eight by live ammunition, in Khaddoury College, located in the West Bank city of Tulkarem.
There has been growing confrontation between Israelis and Palestinians over the past few weeks.
The tensions were triggered by the Tel Aviv regime’s imposition on August 26 of sweeping restrictions on entries into the compound of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in East al-Quds (Jerusalem) and Israeli settlers’ repeated stormings of the mosque.
The site is Islam’s third holiest after Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina. It is also highly respected by Jews and Christians.
