The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights B’Tselem on Friday said that the Israeli army’s announcement about opening an investigation into the shooting of Gazan protesters is pure propaganda intended among other things to prevent an independent international investigation.
B’Tselem added in a statement that this mechanism is part of the whitewashing toolkit that the Israeli military prosecution uses to create a semblance of an efficient law enforcement system.
The Center explained that Israel is treating the protests in Gaza as it has handled similar events in the past: Broad unlawful use of lethal force against peaceful protesters baseless legal interpretations issued to justify this policy and whitewashing the crimes within days.
Investigations conducted by B’Tselem confirm that the instructions given to Israeli soldiers to open fire at unarmed protesters in Gaza violate international law.
The Israeli Center stressed that the extreme arguments which the Israeli army uses to justify the deliberate killing of peaceful protesters are never enough.
It continued to say that Israel’s attempts to hold Hamas responsible for the high number of casualties in the Great March of Return are “unacceptable”.
At least 34 Palestinians have been killed and over 3000 injured while taking part in the Great March of Return which has been launched along Gaza’s eastern border since 30th March.
