PA calls for international probe into Israeli ‘extrajudicial’ killing of Palestinians

The Palestinian Authority (PA) called Wednesday for an international investigation into the Israeli army’s “extrajudicial” killing of Palestinian citizens, according to a statement reported by Anadolu news agency.

The statement noted that Israeli soldiers have recently acknowledged that they internationally carried out field executions against unarmed Palestinians, citing remarks by senior Israeli prosecutors reported by the Israeli media.

According to the reports, the Israeli officials said that soldiers opened fire at Palestinians, killing them on the grounds that they were would-be assailants targeting Israeli soldiers or settlers.

“Such facts prove the involvement of the Israeli soldiers and their leadership in these crimes and in the covering up of these criminals through hiding the evidence or manipulating the scenes and the tools of the crimes,” the statement said.

The PA statement noted that the Israeli reports cited three examples about the execution of Palestinian citizens where the crime scenes and objects were altered to reflect a sense that the Palestinians had genuinely attempted to stab Israelis before being killed.

In the statement, the PA blamed the Israeli government for these field executions, noting that there is a “full systematic occupational organisation which targets the Palestinians, covers up the killers, helps them escape and avoid legal liability.”

The statement called for the Palestinian, Israeli, regional and international human rights groups to continue documenting the crimes and violations of the Israeli occupation, as well as to document the acknowledgements of the Israeli soldiers and the cases of cover-ups.

Continuous documentation, the statement said, is an initial procedure ahead of opening an international investigation to hold Israeli “war criminals” accountable for their crimes.