B'Tselem in the media

Israel's army has been criticised for its use of live fire against Palestinians, as concern mounts among human rights organisations over the civilian death toll since the start of the year. The army's use of "non-lethal crowd control measures" is also being questioned, with the release of a report that says since 2005 six Palestinians have been killed by rubber-coated metal bullets, another two died when hit by tear-gas canisters fired directly at them, and at least two other Palestinians have been killed with 0.22-calibrebullets used to disperse demonstrations.

In a report issued Monday on the military’s crowd-control techniques in the West Bank, the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said that security forces were “extensively and systematically” violating their own rules of engagement when using both non-lethal weapons and live ammunition against protesters, with fatal results.

B’Tselem told The Lede in an e-mail that a witness “told us that Salameh had the gun-shaped lighter on him (not drawn). The checkpoint is near his family home. The Border Police officers discovered the gun, tried to or did indeed confiscate it, which sparked an altercation, and he managed to get it back. That’s when he was heard shouting ‘mine.’ Our witness described a fight between Salameh and the officers, in which they exchanged blows, and was then shot.”

The soldiers forced them to leave the vehicle and punched them, striking them with the butts of their guns. They accused them of working for an Israeli NGO, B'Tselem, which documents human rights violations in the occupied West Bank, the Reuters cameramen said.