Givati, a former combat soldier, said the IDF always finds a way to justify its actions as an “operational error” or “not intentional,” adding the lack of any real consequences for the killings or abuse of Palestinians has created a “permissive” atmosphere to use lethal force against civilians — including children.
Among the children killed in the West Bank this year were two boys — eight-year-old Adam Samer Al-Ghoul and 15-year-old Basil Suleiman Abu Al-Wafa — who were shot to death during an Israeli raid in the Jenin refugee camp last month.
In a statement to CBC News at the time, the IDF didn’t acknowledge any involvement in the killings of the two boys but said its soldiers were carrying out “counterterrorist activity” and that “explosive devices were hurled at the forces who responded with fire toward the terrorists and hit them.”
According to Van Esveld, that is not a significant enough threat to warrant soldiers “spraying the whole area with automatic gunfire,” which is what witnesses allege happened in the incidents HRW documented.
Since 2021, Israel has permitted its forces to shoot at Palestinians who have thrown rocks or firebombs at cars — even if the perpetrators are running away and no longer pose an immediate threat — if other efforts to make an arrest fail.
But he suggested there could be a chain reaction if the military started holding specific soldiers or officials accountable for the killings of Palestinian civilians in operations in the occupied territories — something that may have repercussions across Israeli society.
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