Amnesty International’s experts are available for comment on the routine use of excessive force and pattern of unlawful killings by the Israeli forces in the West Bank after footage emerged of two Palestinian teenagers being shot dead by Israeli forces in the area.
The CCTV footage appears to show Nadeem Nawara, 17, and Mohammad Abu Daher, 16, being deliberately shot and killed outside Ofer military base in the West Bank on 15 May. They were not posing any threat to the life of members of the Israeli forces or anyone else.
The footage is part of a body of evidence collected by the human rights organization Defence of Children International. Based on this and other evidence, Amnesty International considers the killings to have been unlawful.
Amnesty International has extensively documented the use of unnecessary and excessive force against Palestinians by Israel’s police and military leading to a rising number of unlawful killings, some of which may be wilful killings amounting to war crimes.
According to information gathered by the organization, 22 Palestinian civilians were killed in the West Bank in 2013, at least 14 of them in the context of protests. Most were young adults under the age of 25. At least four were children.
Amnesty International’s experts are available for interviews from London.
Possible talking points:
• Israel’s use of excessive force against Palestinians, including children, in the West Bank.
• Evidence of wilful killings by Israeli forces of Palestinians in the West Bank, which would amount to war crimes.
• Lack of independent and transparent investigations into cases of unlawful killings.
Background:
‘Trigger-happy’ Israeli army and police use reckless force in the West Bank – News Story, 27 February 2014.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/news/trigger-happy-israeli-army-and-police-use…
Trigger-happy: Israel’s use of excessive force in the West Bank –report, 27 February 2014.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE15/002/2014/en
To arrange an interview, please contact Amnesty International’s press office: + 44 (0) 20 7413 5566, [email protected]