Israel Begins Random Shooting Policy in Nitzarim

New IOF Rules Allow Shooting Any Palestinian Near "Nitzarim" Settlement

GAZA - A new set of rules was recently released by the Israeli military command, permitting the Israeli occupying troops stationed in the illegitimate Jewish settlement of "Nitzarim" to shoot and kill any Palestinian carrying a binoculars in the vicinity of the settlement.

Israeli sources mentioned that the Israeli southern command has released these new rules after two Palestinians attacked the isolated settlement two weeks ago, killing three soldiers and wounding others. The sources claimed that these rules were released to prevent Palestinians from "observing Israeli military activity", which they say usually comes prior to planning an attack.

These new rules have never been applied in all of the occupied Palestinian territories.

The "Nitzarim" settlement, which is closer to being a military base rather than a center of Jewish colonization, is surrounded by Palestinian farmlands, in which many Palestinians farm or live next to, a thing that would surely expose them to dire jeopardy when these rules come into effect.

Akram Abu Kmail, a Palestinian living with his nine-member family in a house only 300 meters away from the settlement, said that with these new rules, he would be afraid to let his kids out to play even in broad daylight.

"Before the rules, we were afraid to go out after sunset, because the trigger-happy Israeli soldiers open fire at anybody who moves outside in the dark. After we heard about the new rules, I would be so afraid of letting my kids out to play even in broad daylight, because the soldiers might see them holding something similar to a binoculars and open fire. We can not possibly trust those soldiers, because they are occupiers and psychopaths, and they would not hesitate to shoot anybody, be it a child or an old man," Abu Kmail told IPC correspondent.

In response to these rules, several Israeli human rights organizations and Knesset members sent protest letters to the Israeli government's attorney general and the military advocate general, demanding the immediate cancellation of these rules, as they consider Palestinians who do not even pose a threat as legitimate targets.

Dr. Ahmad Al Tibi, member of the Knesset, said that these rules consider Palestinians as shooting targets by the trigger-happy soldiers.

"These rules are not only a violation to the international laws, but to the Israeli criminal law, and turns the Palestinian citizens into shooting targets, and to be killed only for the purpose of killing," Al Tibi wrote in a letter of protest sent to the Israeli attorney general, Elyakim Rubenstein and the military advocate general, Menachem Finkelstein.

Prior to these rules, IOF demolished two 13-storey apartment buildings in the Al-Zahra'a City in the middle of Gaza Strip, claiming that they were used as watch points for the Palestinians who carried out the attack against the soldiers in "Nitzarim". The apartment buildings, which were to be used as a housing project for Palestinian middle-class families, were turned into a heap of rubble, depriving nearly a hundred families from the chance to live in a house of their own.

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