The IDF's rules of engagement on the Gaza border are in line with Israeli and international law, the state said Sunday in its response to a High Court petition by Yesh Din against the live fire used to stop Palestinians from crossing the border into Israel during weekly rioting.

The state noted it will submit the rules of engagement and confidential intelligence on the matter to the High Court.

These events, the state said, "constitute part of the armed conflict between Hamas and Israel." </s> After five weekends of bloody clashes on the Gaza border, Israel’s high court on Monday considered a number of petitions filed by human rights groups aimed at forcing the army to reconsider its use of live fire to quell the protests.

A total of 44 protesters have been killed and thousands wounded, many by live fire, in the March of Return protests, which are expected to peak in mid-May, when the Palestinians mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel, which they regard as the Nakba, or catastrophe, and the birth of the Palestinian refugee problem.

One of the judges said no other court in the world would address the question of rules of engagement during a conflict but no decision was taken on Monday and the court will reconvene before the judges make their decision.

The petitions, filed by six human rights groups, demanded that the court revoke the army’s rules of engagement that authorise soldiers to use live fire on demonstrators along the Gaza border who are not endangering human lives.

The groups taking the case included the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Yesh Din, Gisha and Hamoked: Centre for the Defence of the Individual.

The petitioners claimed demonstrations in Gaza were not prohibited and that if incidents turned violent or there were attempts to breach the border, these were civil disturbances and therefore it was legally permissible to open fire only when there was an immediate danger to human life.

The petitioners further claimed that even if the area was considered a combat zone due to the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the demonstrations themselves were not part of the fighting and the rules of war did not apply to them.

The state claimed that the security forces’ rules of engagement along the border corresponded with Israeli and international law, arguing that the legal basis for the petitions was “faulty and deficient”.

“The petitioners have drawn incorrect legal conclusions, first and foremost regarding the classification of the events as ostensibly ‘quintessentially civil incidents’. A proper reality check shows that these are events that compose part of the armed conflict between the Hamas terror organisation and Israel, with all that this entails,” it said.

Amnesty International has called for an arms embargo against Israel, which it accused of carrying out a “murderous assault” on Palestinians participating in the protests.

“For four weeks the world has watched in horror as Israeli snipers and other soldiers, armed with full protective gear and behind the border fence, attack Palestinian demonstrators with live ammunition and tear gas,” Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa deputy director Magdalena Mughrabi said. “Despite international condemnation, the Israeli army has not retracted its illegal orders to shoot unarmed demonstrators.”

A senior Israeli officer told the Ha’aretz newspaper that most of the army’s killings of Palestinians during the Gaza-border protests resulted from snipers aiming at demonstrators’ legs, with the killings an unintentional outcome after a protester bent down, a sniper missed or a bullet ricocheted. </s> Israeli and Palestinian rights groups went to Israel's Supreme Court on Monday in a bid to stop the army's use of lethal force against Palestinians during protests and clashes on the Gaza border.

Forty-eight Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire on the frontier since the start of protests that organizers have dubbed the Great March of Return on March 30, with more than 1,500 wounded.

No Israelis have been hurt.

The army has accused Hamas, the Islamist group that runs Gaza and has fought three wars with Israel since 2008, of seeking to use the protests as cover to carry out attacks.

Five Israeli NGOs and the Gaza-based Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights argued that international law bars the use of lethal fire against unarmed demonstrators.

The Israeli government's written response to the petitions says the Gaza protests are not peaceful civilian demonstrations but "part of the armed conflict between the state of Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization."

It adds that live fire is only used as a last resort after non-lethal means have failed to stop actions it considers "a real danger" to Israeli troops and civilians living near the border with Gaza.

Speaking in the packed Jerusalem courtroom Monday, attorney Suhad Bishara, representing Israeli rights group Adalah, said the facts indicated otherwise.

"The great majority of those shot were at a distance from the (border) fence," she said.

"There is systematic use of lethal fire with no justification."

The army's rules governing use of live fire are officially classified but widely known in a country where most Israelis perform compulsory military service.

"What we know is that the Israeli army has tailored a new type of rules of fire regulation which do not meet international standards," lawyer Michael Sfard, for the other Israeli NGOs, told reporters after the hearing.

"Israeli case law is very clear that rules of engagement are secret and privileged," he said.

"But we know enough about them to argue that these sections which allow lethal force against unarmed civilians who do not pose danger are illegal. This is the crux of the case."

The government response says the open-fire regulations "conform to international law as well as Israeli law, including the Supreme Court's jurisprudence."

The judges gave each side until May 6 to submit written precedents in support of their arguments, after which it will deliver its ruling.

The European Union and U.N. chief Antonio Guterres have called for an independent investigation into the deaths, but Israel has rejected the idea.

The United States, Israel's strongest backer, has blocked moves for a probe at the United Nations. </s> Israeli and Palestinian rights groups went to Israel’s Supreme Court on Monday in a bid to stop the army’s use of lethal force against Palestinians during protests and clashes on the Gaza border.

Forty-eight Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire on the frontier since the start of protests that organisers have dubbed the Great March of Return on March 30, with more than 1,500 wounded.

No Israelis have been hurt.

The army has accused Hamas, the Islamist group that runs Gaza and has fought three wars with Israel since 2008, of seeking to use the protests as cover to carry out attacks.

Five Israeli NGOs and the Gaza-based Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights argued that international law bars the use of lethal fire against unarmed demonstrators.

The Israeli government’s written response to the petitions says the Gaza protests are not peaceful civilian demonstrations but “part of the armed conflict between the state of Israel and the Hamas terrorist organisation.”

It adds that live fire is only used as a last resort after non-lethal means have failed to stop actions it considers “a real danger” to Israeli troops and civilians living near the border with Gaza.

Speaking in the packed Jerusalem courtroom Monday, attorney Suhad Bishara, representing Israeli rights group Adalah, said the facts indicated otherwise.

“The great majority of those shot were at a distance from the (border) fence,” she said.

“There is systematic use of lethal fire with no justification.”

The army’s rules governing use of live fire are officially classified but widely known in a country where most Israelis perform compulsory military service.

“What we know is that the Israeli army has tailored a new type of rules of fire regulation which do not meet international standards,” lawyer Michael Sfard, for the other Israeli NGOs, told reporters after the hearing.

“Israeli case law is very clear that rules of engagement are secret and privileged,” he said.

“But we know enough about them to argue that these sections which allow lethal force against unarmed civilians who do not pose danger are illegal. This is the crux of the case.”

The government response says the open-fire regulations “conform to international law as well as Israeli law, including the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence”.

The judges gave each side until May 6 to submit written precedents in support of their arguments, after which it will deliver its ruling.

The European Union and UN chief Antonio Guterres have called for an independent investigation into the deaths, but the Jewish state has rejected the idea.

The United States, Israel’s strongest backer, has blocked moves for a probe at the United Nations. </s> Israeli and Palestinian rights groups went to Israel's Supreme Court on Monday in a bid to stop the army's use of lethal force against Palestinians during protests and clashes on the Gaza border.

Forty-eight Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire on the frontier since the start of protests that organisers have dubbed the Great March of Return on March 30, with more than 1,500 wounded.

No Israelis have been hurt.

The army has accused Hamas, the Islamist group that runs Gaza and has fought three wars with Israel since 2008, of seeking to use the protests as cover to carry out attacks.

Five Israeli NGOs and the Gaza-based Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights argued that international law bars the use of lethal fire against unarmed demonstrators.

The Israeli government's written response to the petitions says the Gaza protests are not peaceful civilian demonstrations but "part of the armed conflict between the state of Israel and the Hamas terrorist organisation."

It adds that live fire is only used as a last resort after non-lethal means have failed to stop actions it considers "a real danger" to Israeli troops and civilians living near the border with Gaza.

Speaking in the packed Jerusalem courtroom Monday, attorney Suhad Bishara, representing Israeli rights group Adalah, said the facts indicated otherwise.

"The great majority of those shot were at a distance from the (border) fence," she said.

"There is systematic use of lethal fire with no justification."

The army's rules governing use of live fire are officially classified but widely known in a country where most Israelis perform compulsory military service.

"What we know is that the Israeli army has tailored a new type of rules of fire regulation which do not meet international standards," lawyer Michael Sfard, for the other Israeli NGOs, told reporters after the hearing.

"Israeli case law is very clear that rules of engagement are secret and privileged," he said.

"But we know enough about them to argue that these sections which allow lethal force against unarmed civilians who do not pose danger are illegal. This is the crux of the case."

The government response says the open-fire regulations "conform to international law as well as Israeli law, including the Supreme Court's jurisprudence".

The judges gave each side until May 6 to submit written precedents in support of their arguments, after which it will deliver its ruling.

The European Union and UN chief Antonio Guterres have called for an independent investigation into the deaths, but the Jewish state has rejected the idea.

The United States, Israel's strongest backer, has blocked moves for a probe at the United Nations. </s> Israel's live fire use in Gaza protests in first legal test

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military's use of live fire against Palestinian protesters on the Gaza border is facing its first legal test before the Supreme Court.

Six human rights groups asked the court on Monday to restrict or ban the use of live ammunition, after 39 Palestinian were killed and more than 1,600 wounded in weekly border protests over the past month.

The rights groups say rules of engagement of law enforcement apply, under which officers can only resort to lethal force if their lives are in imminent danger. They say the military's use of lethal force against unarmed protesters is unlawful.

Israel's military argues that the border protests are part of a long-running conflict with Gaza's ruling Hamas, which it considers a terror group. Israel says rules of armed conflict apply. </s> Israel's use of live fire in Gaza protests faces legal test

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's Supreme Court on Monday heard the first legal challenge of the military's open-fire rules, after 39 Palestinians were killed and more than 1,700 wounded by Israeli fire during mass protests on the Gaza border over the past month.

The hearing came amid growing international criticism of Israel for its use of lethal force and a mounting casualty toll since the weekly protests, organized by Gaza's ruling Hamas, began in late March. Organizers say the mass demonstrations are to continue for at least two more weeks, with some threatening a mass border breach.

The court is not expected to rule before next week, in what human rights lawyer Michael Sfard said is the first broad review of the army's rules of engagement in almost three decades.

On Monday, six human rights groups asked the Supreme Court to declare as unlawful any regulations that allow soldiers to open fire at unarmed civilians.

Lawyers for the groups said Israel's response to the Gaza protests must follow the rules of engagement for law enforcement officers, who are barred from using lethal force unless they face imminent danger to "life and limb."

The Israeli military argued that the protests are taking place in the context of a long-running armed conflict with the Islamic militant group Hamas, and that open-fire regulations are subject to the rules of armed conflict. Such rules provide greater leeway for the use of lethal force than those governing law enforcement practices.

Sfard said the army's rules of engagement don't meet international standards of law enforcement and that the laws of armed conflict don't apply in this case. "Lethal force against unarmed civilians who do not pose danger is illegal," he said. "This is the crux of the case."

Michael Oren, a deputy Israeli Cabinet minister, said the protests "are designed to break down the border and any army is charged with defending a border." He acknowledged that mistakes might have been made in some of the shootings and that "bullets can do unpredictable things."

The weekly marches are aimed in part at trying to break a border blockade of Gaza, imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas overran the territory in 2007, a year after winning Palestinian parliament elections. Organizers say the marches also press for the "right of return" of refugees and their descendants to what is now Israel.

The protests, dubbed the "Great March of Return," are to culminate in a mass gathering on the border on May 15, a day Palestinians mark as their "nakba," or catastrophe, to commemorate their mass uprooting during the 1948 war over Israel's creation.

Hamas leaders have issued warnings about a possible border breach, but stopped short of specific threats. "Our steadfast national decision is to continue the March of Return and of breaking the siege," Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said Monday. He said he hoped the idea would catch on in the West Bank and elsewhere.

In the weekly protests, thousands of Palestinians have been heading toward Gaza's border area with Israel. A majority stay in or near five tent camps, each set up several hundred meters (yards) from the border fence. Typically, smaller groups move closer to the fence, throwing stones, burning tires and or hurling firebombs.

Soldiers, including snipers, are perched behind protective sand berms on the other side of the border.

Last Friday, hundreds of Palestinians converged on a stretch of fence, trying to burn and rip through it before drawing heavy Israeli fire. Three Palestinians were killed and dozens were wounded in the incident, the most serious attempt so far by a large group to break down the barrier.

The rights groups that petitioned the high court said that even if protests turn into riots, lethal force against unarmed demonstrators can only be used a last resort — in the event of a life-threatening situation. The groups said that in several cases caught on video, protesters were targeted while standing dozens of meters from the fence, or while trying to take cover. Among those killed were four minors and two journalists.

The Israeli military said Hamas has used the protests as cover to damage the fence and carry out attacks. On Sunday night, Israeli troops fatally shot two Palestinians who infiltrated from Gaza and attacked soldiers with explosives, the military said. A third Palestinian was killed during an attempted border breach, it said.

In its court brief, the army said Gaza militants have planted some two dozen explosives along the fence. </s> A Palestinian protester runs holding a teargas canister fired by Israeli troops during a protest at the Gaza Strip border with Israel, in eastern Gaza City, Wednesday. A leading Israel human rights group urged Israeli forces in a rare step Wednesday to disobey open-fire orders unless Gaza protesters pose an imminent threat to soldiers’ lives. (Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)

JERUSALEM — A leading Israel human rights group urged Israeli forces in a rare step Wednesday to disobey open-fire orders unless Gaza protesters pose an imminent threat to soldiers’ lives.

B’Tselem said the appeal is a last-ditch attempt to prevent more bloodshed on the volatile Gaza-Israel border.

Nineteen Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza since last Friday, including 14 in border protests. More large demonstrations are expected along the border this Friday.

B’Tselem has never before called on soldiers to refuse orders, but believes firing on Palestinians who pose no imminent threat to the lives of Israeli forces is “manifestly illegal,” said spokesman Amit Gilutz.

“As long as soldiers in the field continue to receive orders to use live fire against unarmed civilians, they are duty-bound to refuse to comply,” the group said.

The Israeli military has said its tough response is justified because the protests were organized by Hamas, an Islamic militant group sworn to Israel’s destruction.

It said soldiers only targeted “instigators” who burned tires or threw stones and firebombs toward the border fence. The military accused Hamas of using the large crowds as cover to carry out attacks.

In one instance, a pair of gunmen approached the border, and the army said protesters also tried to plant explosives along the fence in several instances.

But in other incidents, some caught on video, those shot appeared to have been unarmed and not actively involved in violence at the time they were struck.

B’Tselem said that while Israel has the right to defend its border, it is still bound by international norms for the use of live fire. The group said that simply approaching the fence, and even damaging it, does not provide grounds for using lethal force, and that Israel had other options for dispersing the crowds.

“The provisions limit its use to instances involving tangible and immediate mortal danger, and only in the absence of any other alternative,” the group said. “Israel cannot simply decide that it is not bound by these rules.”

Israel’s military is the country’s most respected institution, and such criticism, even from a dovish group, is relatively rare. B’Tselem said it would be publishing newspaper ads and take other steps to publicize its campaign.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

But the country’s defence minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said Tuesday that the military will not change its tactics and warned that anyone who approaches the border is risking his life. The tough comments raised the possibility of more bloodshed this Friday, when another mass protest is expected.

On Wednesday, the head of the Arab League called on the International Criminal Court in The Hague to investigate the deaths of Palestinians killed in Gaza since Friday. Ahmed Aboul-Gheit also said he supports a call by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for an independent investigation of the events on the border.

Hamas is organizing six weeks of on-and-off border protests in what it says is a campaign to draw attention to a crippling border blockade.

Both Israel and Egypt have maintained a blockade since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 in an attempt to weaken the militant group. But the measures have devastated Gaza’s economy, while failing to oust Hamas.

Israel said Wednesday it has arrested 10 Palestinians suspected of planning an attack against a navy ship off the Gaza coast.

The Shin Bet security service said the interrogation of the cell’s alleged leader revealed a plan to send a decoy boat from Gaza to distract the navy ship while another would fire a rocket at it. The plan called for militants to then try to abduct wounded sailors and keep them as bargaining chips for future prisoner swaps.

Amin Jamaa was being indicted Wednesday at a court in southern Israel.

The Shin Bet identified him and his cohorts as members of the Islamic Jihad militant group and said they were abusing the easing of Israeli restrictions on Gaza fisherman to collect intelligence on Israel’s naval operations along the coast.

“This is proof of the true intentions of the terror groups in Gaza who are trying to hide their murderous plans by staging provocations along our border whose sole purpose is to provide cover for terrorists to carry out their attacks against Israel,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

Daoud Shehab, an Islamic Jihad spokesman, said he had no information about the Israeli announcement but that his group was involved in “open confrontation” against it.

“It’s also our right to look for suitable ways to force Israel to release Palestinian prisoners,” he added.

Protests are planned to continue until May 15, the 70th anniversary of Israel’s founding. The date is mourned by Palestinians as their “nakba,” or “catastrophe,” when hundreds of thousands were uprooted in the 1948 Mideast war over Israel’s creation. Most of Gaza’s 2 million people are descendants of Palestinian refugees. </s> The protests by Palestinians on the Gaza border fall into the category of a state of war and thus human rights law does not apply to the rules of engagement, the state said in its response to a High Court petition filed by human rights groups.



According to the response, the Israeli forces’ rules of engagement comply with both Israeli and international law.

>> If you think the Gaza border protests are incendiary, just wait for Nakba Day | Analysis >>



“The state opposes the applying of human rights law during an armed conflict,” the state wrote, adding that the Red Cross had acknowledged that such law indeed did not have to be applied during such a state of affairs.



In their so-called March of Return, Gazans have been protesting each Friday at the Gaza border fence. In the demonstrations, the Israeli army has killed 45 protesters and wounded thousands; the army says it is trying to stop the fence from being breached.



The state said the demonstrations were part of hostile acts by Hamas against Israel, though Israel did not necessarily see participation in violence at the border fence or the approaching of the fence as direct participation in a hostile act. Each case should be examined individually, it said.



The State Prosecutor’s Office distinguishes between protesters demonstrating and protesters trying to break into Israel to attack soldiers and civilians.



The state’s response relied on a 2015 High Court ruling on a petition by a demonstrator on the Lebanese border who was shot by the Israeli army. According to the ruling, the breaking-up of a violent, life-threatening protest allows for the use of potentially deadly force.
In response to a Yesh Din petition to the Israeli High Court calling for a ban on the use of live rounds to prevent protestors breaching the border fence, the Israeli government says its rules of engagement meet local and international law, that intelligence used to justify decisions will be submitted to the court, and that the protests are considered part of the ongoing conflict with Hamas.