State Department cites reports that Israeli forces carried out ‘unlawful killings’

The US State Department has cited reports of “excessive force” by Israeli forces against Palestinian civilians in a newly-released human rights report. The 2015 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, launched in Washington, DC on Wednesday, by Secretary of State John Kerry, takes Israel to task for a variety of human rights violations, including the use of lethal violence against Palestinian demonstrators.

According to the report, Israeli forces killed 149 Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem during 2015, including through the use of “live fire and rubber-coated steel bullets” against protesters.

The State Department cites reports by human rights groups that Israeli occupation forces “committed unlawful killings”, including four incidents documented by Amnesty International when “Israeli forces deliberately shot and killed Palestinians when they posed no imminent threat to life.”

The report says Israeli forces killed “22 Palestinian civilians during clashes” in 2015 up to October 1, with an additional 127 Palestinian civilians killed from October 1 through year’s end (77 of whom “who were reportedly carrying out or attempting attacks against Israeli civilians or security forces”).

The State Department report also notes how Israeli soldiers killed Palestinians “during riots, demonstrations, at checkpoints, and during routine operations”, including in cases where those killed “did not pose a threat to life.”

In the context of Israeli forces using “live fire as a crowd-control measure during Palestinian demonstrations in the West Bank”, the report notes how Israeli forces “shot and injured 11-year-old Muhammad Hamad in the stomach during a weekly protest march” in Silwad in March.

The State Department also cites “multiple reports of Israeli forces killing Palestinians in restricted areas in the Gaza Strip”, such as on October 10, when seven Palestinian demonstrators were killed and 60 others were injured.