Israel’s abuse of human rights within the Occupied Palestinian Territories further deteriorated since its last Universal Periodic Review in 2012. This submission covers five categories of systematic Israeli violations during this period, many of which have recurred consistently over the past 50 years of prolonged military occupation: (1) unlawful killings and war crimes without accountability; (2) illegal settlements and institutional discrimination; (3) forced displacement; (4) prolonged closure of Gaza and unjustified movement restrictions in the West Bank; and (5) abusive detention. While the submission focuses on violations by Israel, as the state under review, Human Rights Watch has documented severe rights violations by the Palestinian Authority, Hamas and Palestinian armed groups.
Unlawful killings and war crimes without accountability
In its last UPR review of Israel, a number of states recommended Israel to “fight impunity by thorough and impartial investigations on all the allegations of human rights violations, including when these allegations involve members of security forces or settlers.” However, Israel has continued to fail to credibly investigate unlawful killings and hold violators to account for wrongdoing.
In the single bloodiest escalation during the review period, Israeli forces killed 1,462 Palestinian civilians in Gaza, including 551 children, in July-August 2014 according to UN figures. Many of these attacks amounted to violations of international humanitarian law, some war crimes, including: the targeting of civilians and apparent civilian structures; indiscriminate attacks on civilians, including the use of weapons with wide area affects; and the failure to take all feasible precautions to spare civilians. Armed Palestinian groups also committed war crimes during this period and at other times, including rocket attacks targeting Israeli population centers.
Israel’s military advocate general received over 500 complaints from individuals and human rights groups with regard to 300 attacks that occurred during this war, but launched criminal investigations into only 37. At time of writing, Israeli authorities had filed criminal charges against only three soldiers, for theft.
In policing situations in the West Bank and Gaza, Israeli security forces repeatedly used excessive force, killing or grievously wounded demonstrators, rock-throwers, suspected assailants and others with live ammunition when lesser means could have averted a threat or maintained ordered.
In October 2015, a new escalation of violence broke out, characterized by demonstrations, some violent, in the West Bank and at the Gaza border with Israel that Israeli forces have suppressed, often using live fire. There has also been a wave of stabbings and attempted stabbings during this period by Palestinians against Israeli passersby and security forces, both in the West Bank and Israel, it appears in most cases by people acting without the sponsorship of any armed group.
Israeli security forces used lethal force against Palestinians suspected of committing attacks in Israel and the West Bank, killing more than 160. Video footage, eyewitness accounts and forensic evidence indicate that Israeli forces used excessive force on numerous occasions—intentionally using lethal force when not absolutely necessary to protect human life.