Eyes on Gaza as West Bank killings spike

AVA- Of the 31 Palestinians killed by soldiers and settlers so far this year, 16 were slain in the West Bank, 10 during the month of March alone.
With nearly 200 Palestinians killed and more than 6,500 wounded by live fire during the Great March of Return, human rights groups have called for Zionist regime to release its rules of engagement, which the state has refused to disclose.
Last May, regime’s high court gave the military the green light to continue its use of sniper fire against protesters in Gaza, ruling that protesters posed a danger to soldiers and civilians.
Killed while posing no threat
That ruling contradicted the findings of human rights groups – and ignored video evidence to the contrary – showing that Zionist regime has killed and maimed unarmed protesters, journalists and medics who posed no danger to soldiers on the other side of the Gaza boundary fence.
In multiple cases this month, the Zionist military has justified the fatal use of live fire on the grounds that Palestinians were “throwing stones” or had thrown fire bombs.
The human rights group B’Tselem has noted that the regime frequently justifies its killing of Palestinians by expanding what constitutes “life-threatening” behavior “to include circumstances in which soldiers’ lives are not actually in danger, such as stone-throwing or tire-burning during protests.”
Stone-throwing was the justification given by the military for killing Ahmad Manasra, 23, after he tried to help a family with their broken-down car at the southern entrance to Bethlehem, a city in the West Bank, last week.
According to an investigation by the Zionist journalist Gideon Levy, Manasra was traveling home from a wedding along with three friends when they found a woman at a traffic light screaming for help.
The four friends came to the woman’s aid. She had been traveling with her husband and two small daughters when their car broke down. When her husband stepped out to inspect the vehicle, he was shot in the stomach by Zionist soldiers.
Three of the friends returning from the wedding transported the man in their car to the hospital. Ahmad Manasra stayed behind to help the woman and her daughters.
According to Levy’s telling, Manasra had tried to start the stalled car and move it away from the intersection. When his attempt failed, he got out of the car.
The soldiers, presumably the same ones that had shot the owner of the car, opened fire again. Manasra tried to take cover behind a concrete block but he was shot multiple times throughout his body.
The military’s explanation for Manasra’s killing, as given to Levy: “An IDF fighter who was on guard at a military position near the intersection spotted a suspect who was throwing stones at vehicles in the area and carried out the procedure for arresting a suspect, which ended in shooting.”