An international human rights organization announced, on Tuesday, that it had documented the use of deadly weapons by the Israeli occupation authorities to break up the popular Palestinian demonstrations, which led to the death of a number of children.

The Palestine Branch of the International Movement for Defense of Children said, in a statement, that "the Israeli occupation army uses the  22 Long Rifle weapon," denying Israeli allegations that the weapon is a "non-lethal" method.

The statement added that the movement (founded in Geneva in 1979) has documented "a number of child victims, who were killed using 22 Long Rifle weapon by the Israeli occupation army." 

The .22 Long Rifle or simply .22 LR (metric designation: 5.6×15mmR) is a long-established variety of .22 caliber rimfire ammunition originating from the United States. It is used in a wide range of rifles, pistols, revolvers, smoothbore shotguns, and submachine guns.

The movement explained that the last victim of this weapon was "the child Ali Abu Alia (15 years) from the village of Mughayir north of Ramallah, who was killed last month (November), during demonstrations that broke out in the village."

It also mentioned the case of the death of the 17-year-old child, Qusay Al-Amor, from the town of Tuqu 'in the Bethlehem Governorate (south), on January 16, 2017, in front of cameras, during clashes that broke out in the town.

It stressed that "when a trained Israeli soldier fires live bullets at a person and target the upper parts of his body, this is considered a persistence in the killing, and there is no room here to talk about an error in correction as claimed by the occupation forces."

In a previous report by the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem, the occupation authorities claimed that they are using "Roger" weapons as a "non-lethal" means to break the demonstrations.

Since the beginning of this year, 8 Palestinian children, between the ages of 13 and 17, have been shot dead by the Israeli army, according to international human rights data.

 

Source: Day of Palestine