85% of Palestinian martyrs were victims of Israeli extrajudicial executions: Report

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Monday 04 Jan 2016 - 11:58 Makkah mean time-24-3-1437 Israeli soldiers stand next to the body of a Palestinian martyr Ramallah (IINA) – The Palestinian Detainees and Ex-Detainees Committee said that 85 percent of 179 Palestinians, who were killed by Israel since the beginning of 2015, had their deaths in extrajudicial killings, according to a report published by the Committee on Sunday. The Committee underlined that Israeli forces executed Palestinians in ‘cold-blood’ and on the grounds of mere suspicion, considering that forces acted as both judges and executioners. It noted that based on a series of documented and publicized incidents, the majority of Palestinians, who assaulted Israelis or were suspected of doing so, were executed by Israeli forces despite the fact that  they posed no immediate danger to the latter's lives, stressing that forces could have restrained and detained them instead of firing on them. The committee added that a large number of Palestinians were left to bleed to death, without providing them with the necessary first aid, or even allowing Palestinian ambulances to have access to them. It said that the majority of the slain Palestinians were shot from a very close range with the intention to kill. The Committee described the calls by the Israeli politicians for killing Palestinians instead of detaining them, as a war crime and intentional extrajudicial executions that violate the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Fourth Geneva Conventions, and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). It noted that the Israeli authorities have not conducted any criminal investigations against the soldiers who intentionally killed Palestinians, citing an incident where an Israeli sniper was praised for killing a number of Palestinians near Gush Etzion settlement bloc in Hebron. The Committee further pointed to previous remarks by the Israeli minister of culture, calling for a change of open fire regulations and field executions of the Palestinians. It explained that the international humanitarian law considers serious violations such as field executions as war crimes, and it prohibits all kinds of extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions, considering them punishable crimes, under the international law as well, where exceptional cases may not be invoked. The international humanitarian law also prohibits the issuance of orders to carry out any kind of extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions without trial or incitement to carry out such serious violations. AB/IINA