Nur Shams Refugee Camp. Photo: Abdulkarim Sadi, B’tselem
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Dec. 2023: Israel continued its lethal open-fire policy in the West Bank, killing 62 Palestinians, over half of them endangering no one

Open-Fire Policy
21 March 2024

Since the Gaza war began, Israel has employed a lethal open-fire policy in the West Bank. In the last three weeks of October 2023, Israeli soldiers and police killed 115 Palestinians, 79 of whom were endangering no one; in November, soldiers and police killed 116 Palestinians, 48 of them endangering no one.

In December, soldiers and police killed 62 Palestinians in the West Bank, 17 of them minors. Of the persons killed, 36 were endangering no one: 11 were shot while throwing stones or burning tires during clashes, 18 were shot while standing by clashes without taking part (9 of them by an aerial bombing), and 6 were killed in other circumstances. Regarding 1 other Palestinian, B’Tselem could not determine whether he was killed by soldiers or settlers.

Another 18 Palestinians were killed while taking part in exchanges of gunfire with Israeli forces or hurling explosive devices and Molotov cocktails, 10 of them by an aerial bombing, and 1 other Palestinian was killed while armed.

Another 7 Palestinians were killed while attacking Israeli forces or civilians with car-ramming or stabbing, or were suspected of doing so, including 1 whom the military claimed stabbed a soldier when troops entered his home.

B’Tselem’s findings regarding several incidents in which Palestinians were killed in Dec. 2023:

Israeli forces enter Qalandiya R.C. in search of armed Palestinians and fatally shoot passerby, 4.12.23

Soldiers blow up five doors in Palestinian family’s building, killing one member, 5.12.23

Soldiers execute two Palestinians in al-Far’ah Refugee Camp, 8.12.23

Israeli soldiers fatally shot in the head a Palestinian, 25, crossing the Separation Fence to reach work, 16.12.23

Israeli military strikes Palestinians watching clashes from a distance in two separate incidents in Nur Shams R.C., killing 16 people, including 6 minors, 19.10.23, 27.12.23

Israeli forces fire at Palestinians watching clashes in downtown Ramallah, killing one

Location

Israel’s regime of apartheid and occupation is inextricably bound up in human rights violations. B’Tselem strives to end this regime, as that is the only way forward to a future in which human rights, democracy, liberty and equality are ensured to all people, both Palestinian and Israeli, living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

Since the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, Israel has acted in a coordinated and deliberate manner to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip, committing genocide against its residents. In light of Israel’s actions in Gaza, the public statements made by Israeli decision-makers, and the international community’s failure to take effective action, there is a serious risk that the Israeli regime will expand the genocide to other areas under its control—first and foremost, the West Bank.
B’Tselem calls on the Israeli public and the international community to use every tool available under international law to bring an immediate end to Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people.