The Human Rights Council of the United Nations urged Israel to revise its military rule of engagement during a panel in Geneva, on Monday.
The Chairperson of the Commission of Inquiry on the 2018 protests in the Occupied Palestinian Territory Santiago Canton explained that “While in theory, this key inciter status was to be conferred only when the crowd was posing an imminent threat to life, in reality – and that has been one of the main findings of the Commission – in reality, that was rarely the case.”
“We believe that in situations of crowd control and in situations that we deem to be civilian in nature, if there are individuals in the crowd that may be a legitimate target, you still cannot shoot at the crowd, because you may kill or shoot innocent individuals,” Canton added.
The panel was pointing at the massive demonstrations held in the Gaza Strip during the past year, also called as the Great March of Return and the Breaking of the Siege. During these demonstrations, 189 Palestinians were killed, 183 with live ammunition.
In two weeks there would be the one year anniversary of the first March of Return and the panel is worried that there will be an increase in violence. “We hope that the international community gets involved in order to avoid more killings and more shootings during the anniversary,” said Canton.