A/HRC/34/36 III. Human rights violations by all duty bearers A. Israel 1. Excessive use of force and unlawful killings 7. The reporting period witnessed high numbers of deaths among Palestinians and Israelis, in many cases in circumstances that may amount to violations of international human rights law and standards. United Nations officials have consistently raised concerns over alleged excessive use of force and unlawful killings, including extrajudicial executions by Israeli Security Forces. The High Commissioner has noted the enduring climate of impunity for law enforcement officers. According to available information, one soldier is on trial for manslaughter allegedly committed in Hebron in March 2016, while other cases of killings have not led to a criminal investigation, let alone a trial. 4 8. In a number of instances monitored by OHCHR, Palestinians were killed as a result of the use of force that appeared to be unnecessary and unwarranted. 9. In the early morning of 21 June 2016, 15-year-old Mahmoud Badran was killed and four other Palestinians, including three children, were injured when Israeli Defense Forces soldiers opened fire at their car as they were driving on an underpass road connecting two Palestinian villages. One of the injured boys told OHCHR that they had been shot without warning by two individuals standing next to a parked car on the Israeli-controlled route 443, above the road on which they had been driving. The shooting continued until the car hit the underpass wall. Initially, Israeli Defense Forces claimed that the boys had been involved in rioting, but a spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces later acknowledged that the car had been mistakenly targeted following a stone-throwing incident in the area. The manner of shooting “suspects” raises serious concern about the rules of engagement of Israeli Defense Forces, as the boys had not presented any threat. 10. On 21 September, security guards at a checkpoint near Qalqilya, northern West Bank, shot an unarmed 12-year-old Palestinian girl in the legs as she was approaching them. She was subsequently detained until the following day. Israeli media reports initially referred to the incident as an attempted stabbing by the victim, and the security guards claimed she had not obeyed their order to stop. The girl told OHCHR that she had been unable to understand the guards who were shouting in Hebrew, but had stopped before she was shot and hit twice in the legs at close range. Photographs of the incident corroborate her testimony. The girl had been unarmed and had not presented any threat at the time. The initial claim by Israeli Defense Forces that she had been attempting to attack the security guards was rejected by a military court, which ordered her release. 11. In Gaza, Israeli Security Forces use firearms almost on a daily basis along the Israeli designated “access restricted area” on land and sea. Most of the 420 injuries and 7 fatalities in Gaza caused by Israeli Security Forces during the reporting period were from the use of firearms, often in the context of demonstrations after Friday prayers along the Israel-Gaza fence. During such demonstrations, protesters wave flags and sing, but also throw stones. On occasion, Molotov cocktails are thrown. International human rights standards permit the use of firearms by law enforcement officers only when there is an imminent threat of death or serious injury. Since Israeli Defense Forces have defensive equipment, including bunkers and armoured vehicles, and given the significant distance between soldiers and protestors across the fence, it is not clear whether the threshold to use firearms had been reached in most cases. The practice of Israeli Security Forces along the Gaza fence is consistent with 4 See A/71/355, paras. 38 and 45, and A/71/364, paras. 9 and 45. 3