Human Rights Watch: Israelis Responsible For Gaza Protest Killings

Image by Getty Images

By Josh Nathan-Kazis April 3, 2018

The watchdog group Human Rights Watch said Tuesday that senior Israeli officials were responsible for the deaths of 14 Palestinian protesters at the Gaza border on Friday, and the injuries of hundreds of others.

“Israeli soldiers were not merely using excessive force, but were apparently acting on orders that all but ensured a bloody military response to the Palestinian demonstrations,” HRW’s deputy Middle East director, Eric Goldstein, said in the group’s statement.

According to Human Rights Watch, Israeli officials said before the protests that soldiers were authorized to shoot people who approached the border, but did not present evidence that violence by the protesters was a serious threat to the Israeli soldiers. The group said that it found no evidence that the protesters used firearms. Without the presence of firearms, according to the group, international law would prevent using deadly force.

“The Israeli government has not shown that the demonstrators throwing rocks or Molotov cocktails posed a grave threat to the well-protected soldiers deployed on the other side of the border fence, nor has Israel claimed that any Palestinian crossed the border on March 30,” the group said.

Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at nathankazis@forward.com or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis.

Josh Nathan-Kazis is a staff writer for the Forward. He covers charities and politics, and writes investigations and longform.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO