Press Releases

Due to the significant and re-occurring deaths and injuries suffered by Palestinian youth at the hands of the Israeli military, BADIL embarked on a research exploring the rise in the use of excessive force by the Israeli military. BADIL followed the situation closely releasing a number of statements on the use of excessive force, specifically live ammunition, against Palestinian youth by the Israeli occupying forces with the intention to cause significant injury; the first statement was published in August, a follow-up statement in September and another statement in December. These ongoing researches lead to the production and release of the case study “The Excessive Use of Force by the Israeli Army”.

This case study aims to analyze the recent increase in the use of live ammunition and its correlation to a wider policy of suppression of resistance by examining three locations that were severely affected by excessive use of force: al-Fawwar Refugee Camp in Hebron, Dheisheh Refugee Camp in Bethlehem, and Tuqu’ Village in Bethlehem.

As the occupier, Israel has an obligation to protect the residents of the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), and is obliged to follow the law enforcement provisions when carrying out policing operations, which sanction the use of live ammunition only as a measure of last resort. All three case studies analyzed above highlight the broad range of serious violations of international law committed regularly by Israel in the West Bank. Israel has failed in all the cases cited in the study to respect the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality and accountability. Not only is Israel not fulfilling its obligations as an occupying power, it is actively violating different provisions and safeguards of IHL, IHRL and international criminal law.

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