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<div class="header reader-header" style="display: block;"
dir="ltr"> <font size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/new-gaza-war-crimes-evidence-sent-icc">https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/new-gaza-war-crimes-evidence-sent-icc</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">New Gaza war crimes evidence sent to
ICC</h1>
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<p class="node__submitted">
<span class="field field-author"><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/people/ali-abunimah">Ali
Abunimah</a></span> <span class="field field-blog">-</span>
<span class="field field-publication-date"><span
class="date-display-single"
content="2018-04-30T22:52:27+00:00">30 April 2018</span></span>
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<p>At least 28 Palestinians have lost limbs to Israeli
snipers firing on participants in the Great March of
Return rallies near Gaza’s boundary with Israel,
according to Tareq Zaqoot, a field researcher with the
human rights group Al-Haq.</p>
<p>Zaqoot, who is in Gaza, and his colleague Rania
Muhareb in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, <a
href="http://therealnews.com/t2/story:21664:Will-the-International-Criminal-Court-Prosecute-Israel-for-War-Crimes%3F">spoke
to <em>The Real News</em></a> about how they are
documenting Israel’s crimes in order to seek justice
for the victims.</p>
<p>Muhareb revealed that Al-Haq, along with the
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and Al Mezan, have
already “made a submission to the International
Criminal Court indicating the names of the victims and
the killings that have been perpetrated by the Israeli
occupying forces since 30 March.”</p>
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<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Our investigation confirms
Israeli forces shot 15-year-old Azzam Hilal Riad
Awaidah in the head with live ammunition in Gaza
on April 27 at 6 pm local time. He was taken to
European Gaza Hospital in Khan Younis & was
pronounced dead next day. <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GazaReturnMarch?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GazaReturnMarch</a>
<a href="https://t.co/8d4IJdZC3c">pic.twitter.com/8d4IJdZC3c</a></p>
— Defense for Children (@DCIPalestine) <a
href="https://twitter.com/DCIPalestine/status/990572743715418112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April
29, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<p>“We’ve not only indicated the names of those killed,
we’ve also indicated an intention to kill, and to
shoot to kill Palestinian protesters, which may
constitute a war crime of willful killing,” Muhareb
added.</p>
<p>Watch the video of their interview above.</p>
<p>Muhareb cites as an example of such evidence the <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/snipers-ordered-shoot-children-israeli-general-confirms">recent
interview</a> translated by The Electronic Intifada
in which Israeli general Zvika Fogel explains the
careful process by which snipers receive authorization
to shoot at the “small body” of a child.</p>
<p>These human rights groups have previously handed over
<a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/evidence-israeli-apartheid-pillage-and-murder-handed-hague-court">dossiers
of evidence</a> to the ICC documenting crimes
against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and
during Israel’s previous assaults on Gaza.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, the ICC’s chief prosecutor issued
an <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/icc-warns-israeli-leaders-over-gaza-killings">unprecedented
public warning</a> that Israeli leaders could face
trial for their violence against unarmed Palestinian
civilians in Gaza.</p>
<p>In the last five weeks, Israeli occupation forces
have <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/four-palestinians-killed-fifth-friday-protest">killed
at least 39 Palestinians</a>, including five
children and two journalists, during the protests
along the boundary.</p>
<p>The protesters are demanding an end to Israel’s siege
of Gaza and the right of return for Palestinian
refugees expelled and excluded from lands now in
Israel because they are not Jewish.</p>
<p>On Sunday, three more Palestinians were <a
href="http://maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=780072">reported
killed</a> by occupation forces following incidents
in which the Israeli military claims Palestinians
tried to breach the Gaza boundary fence.</p>
<h2>Veneer of legality</h2>
<p>On Monday, Israel’s high court held a <a
href="http://www.mezan.org/en/post/22797/MEDIA+ADVISORY%3A+Israeli+Supreme+Court+to+hear+petition+against+Israeli+army+sniper+fire+on+unarmed+Gaza+protesters+tomorrow+at+9+AM">hearing</a>
on <a
href="https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/9488">petitions</a>
by several human rights groups demanding the
revocation of the army’s open-fire regulations that
have led to the staggering toll of deaths and injuries
in Gaza.</p>
<p>The Israeli military’s “open-fire policy against
protesters in Gaza is patently illegal,” Suhad
Bishara, an attorney for one of the groups, Adalah,
stated. “This policy perceives the [Palestinian] human
body as an expendable, worthless object.”</p>
<p>The human rights group B’Tselem has urged soldiers to
<a
href="https://www.btselem.org/gaza_strip/2180426_soldiers_hold_your_fire">defy</a>
such illegal shoot-to-kill-and-maim orders.</p>
<p>In advance of the hearing, the Israeli military <a
href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israeli-army-refuses-to-disclose-open-fire-policy-for-gaza-protests-1.6035708">refused
to publish</a> the open-fire orders, asserting that
they are classified.</p>
<p>Israel has tried to present the mass protests in Gaza
as a Hamas-orchestrated plot to conceal “terrorist”
activities.</p>
<p>Israel has not been able to show any evidence of
armed activities during the protests and its
spokespersons have <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/amnesty-demands-arms-embargo-end-israels-murderous-assault">resorted
to fabrications</a> – such as falsely claiming that
a video shared online showed a young girl in Gaza
saying of Israelis, “we want to kill them.”</p>
<p>In the hearing Monday, Israel’s state attorneys
continued to press this narrative, <a
href="https://twitter.com/EylonALevy/status/990870740433100801">arguing</a>
that “classified intelligence” showed that the
protests are “part of Hamas’s armed hostilities
against Israel.”</p>
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Good morning. Israel's High
Court is hearing two petitions today against
IDF's rules of engagement on <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Gaza?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Gaza</a>
border. Human rights groups say Israel's
shooting on unarmed demonstrators. Israel says
it's context of armed conflict with Hamas. I'll
be live tweeting. <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/i24NEWS?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#i24NEWS</a>
<a href="https://t.co/RXJp6rY29L">pic.twitter.com/RXJp6rY29L</a></p>
— Eylon A. Levy (@EylonALevy) <a
href="https://twitter.com/EylonALevy/status/990798600107167744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April
30, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">And Israeli army lawyers
are BSing live in the Israeli supreme court now.
I wonder how a statements like this fit with the
videos of 14-year-olds getting shot in the head<a
href="https://t.co/vNFzvagsA8">https://t.co/vNFzvagsA8</a></p>
— Asaf Ronel (@AsafRonel) <a
href="https://twitter.com/AsafRonel/status/990874667274723328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April
30, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<p>The Israeli court adjourned without giving a
decision, however historically its role has been to
give a <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/israels-high-court-champions-revenge-against-palestinian-families">veneer
of legality</a> to Israel’s systematic violations of
Palestinian human rights and to help whitewash Israel
internationally as a state that respects the rule of
law despite decades of unchecked <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net.tags/impunity">impunity</a>
and lawless conduct.</p>
<h2>Against the evidence</h2>
<p>Over the weekend, the newspaper <em>Haaretz</em> <a
href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israeli-officer-most-killings-during-gaza-protests-unintentional-1.6034421">cited</a>
an unnamed Israeli army officer’s claim that “most of
the Israeli army’s killings of Palestinians during the
Gaza border protests have resulted from snipers aiming
at demonstrators’ legs, with the killings an
unintentional outcome after a protester bent down, a
sniper missed, a bullet ricocheted or a similar
phenomenon.”</p>
<p>According to the officer, <em>Haaretz</em> stated,
“open-fire directives on the border only let snipers
shoot at the legs of people approaching the border,
and that a person’s chest may be targeted only amid
the other side’s apparent intent to use weapons and
threaten Israelis’ lives.”</p>
<p>But this flies in the face of evidence collected by
human rights investigators, and the claim may be an
indication that some Israeli officers are worried
about the international consequences of the policy of
<a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israeli-leaders-ordered-calculated-killings-gaza-protesters">premeditated
and calculated</a> killing and maiming.</p>
<p>Amnesty International <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/amnesty-demands-arms-embargo-end-israels-murderous-assault">stated</a>
last week that in most of the fatal cases it had
examined, “victims were shot in the upper body,
including the head and the chest, some from behind.”</p>
<p>“Eyewitness testimonies, video and photographic
evidence suggest that many were deliberately killed or
injured while posing no immediate threat to the
Israeli soldiers,” Amnesty added.</p>
<p>Similarly, Adalah has stated that, “94 percent of the
fatally wounded were shot in the upper body (head,
neck, face, chest, stomach, and back).”</p>
<p>More than 5,500 Palestinians have been injured,
including almost 2,000 with live ammunition.</p>
<p>Not one Israeli has been reported injured as a result
of the protests in Gaza.</p>
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