Israel's high-tech military is coming under scathing international criticism for its use of live fire that killed scores of Palestinian protesters across a border — even if the protesting Gazans were burning tires, launching fiery kites into Israeli farms and in some cases trying to rip apart a border fence.
Bodies of Palestinians killed during a protest on a border with Israel lay in the morgue in Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip, Monday, May 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Dusan Vranic)
The Israeli army has staunchly defended its actions. It points to the violent history of Gaza's Hamas rulers, says there have been bombing and shooting attacks against its forces and fears a mass border breach. It also says that in the open terrain of the Gaza border, with troops easily exposed, its military options are limited.
But with the death toll rising, and hundreds of unarmed people among the casualties, the criticism is mounting.
Here is a closer look at the debate over Israel's use of live fire:
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WHAT HAS HAPPENED?
The border protests are aimed largely at breaking a decade-old blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt against Hamas. The blockade, which Israel says is needed to keep Hamas from arming, has decimated Gaza's economy.
Since the Hamas-led protests began on March 30, more than 110 Palestinians have been killed and more than 2,500 wounded by live fire, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
On Monday alone, 59 people were killed and over 1,200 wounded — making it by far the bloodiest day of cross-border violence since a 2014 war between Hamas and Israel.
The vast majority of the casualties have been unarmed protesters, according to Palestinian officials.
A man reacts as bodies of Palestinians killed during a protest on the border with Israel lay in the morgue in Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip, Monday, May 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Dusan Vranic)
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ANGRY REACTIONS
Monday's bloodshed triggered widespread criticism from around the world, with many countries, including European allies like Germany and Belgium, accusing Israel of using disproportionate force and calling for independent investigations.
The U.N. Security Council held a special session that began with a moment of silence for the Palestinians who were killed. In Geneva, the U.N. human rights office said Israel has repeatedly violated international norms by using deadly live fire to repel protesters.
Office spokesman Rupert Colville said rules under international law "have been ignored again and again" and that lethal force should only be a "last resort."
Bodies of Palestinians killed during a protest on the border with Israel lay in a morgue in Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip, Monday, May 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Dusan Vranic)
"It seems anyone is liable to be shot dead or injured: women, children, press personnel, first responders, bystanders," he said.
In Israel, six human rights groups have asked the Supreme Court to declare as unlawful any regulations that allow soldiers to open fire at unarmed civilians.
Hassan Jabareen, general director of Adalah, one of those groups, said soldiers are supposed to use lethal force only if their lives are in immediate danger. He said the large number of people shot far from the border or struck in their upper bodies has raised additional questions about military policies.
"They are shooting in an arbitrary way for two reasons, to punish and to deter," he said.
Israeli firefighters extinguish tractor tires in a farmland set on fire by a kite with attached burning cloth launched from Gaza on the Israeli side of the border, Tuesday, May 15, 2018. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)
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ISRAEL'S RESPONSE
Israel says it uses live fire only as a last resort. It says it begins with verbal warnings and leaflets dropped from the sky that urge people to stay away from the border, and then resorts to "non-lethal" tactics such as tear gas to disperse the crowds.
The military says snipers are permitted to open fire only when all other means have failed. Snipers are supposed to aim at protesters' legs and can shoot only with approval from a commander.
Military officials say that tear gas is often ineffective in the windy conditions. It says it needs to keep its soldiers far from the crowds, and that other non-lethal means, such as rubber-coated bullets, are ineffective from a long distance.
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THE HAMAS FACTOR
The Israeli military says the protests are taking place in the context of a long-running armed conflict with Hamas, an Islamic militant group that has fought three wars with Israel over the past decade and killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings and other attacks.
It says open-fire regulations are subject to the rules of armed conflict, which provide greater leeway for the use of lethal force.
Israel says the protests are not peaceful, and that Hamas militants are using the crowds as cover to carry out attacks.
Protesters have stormed the border fence, set it on fire with burning tires and ripped apart pieces of the structure with wire cutters. They have hurled firebombs and stones toward soldiers and sent flaming kites over the border to set Israeli agricultural fields on fire. One Israeli soldier has been wounded.
The army on Tuesday released a video that appeared to show protesters detonating several explosions near the border. It also said its forces had killed a squad of Hamas gunmen who opened fire at troops.
Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said 14 of those killed Monday were actively involved in carrying out attacks.
Israel's greatest fear is that Hamas will stage a mass breach of the fence and enter nearby Israeli communities to kidnap or kill Israelis.
Such concerns are not unfounded. In 2006, Hamas-linked militants tunneled into Israel and captured a soldier, holding him for five years until he was freed in a prisoner swap.
Hamas also infiltrated into Israel through tunnels during the 2014 war, killing at least six Israeli soldiers, according to Israel's Foreign Ministry. Since the war, Israel has uncovered and destroyed several additional tunnels.
Hamas leader Yehiyeh Sinwar, who was released in the 2011 prisoner swap, has hinted that a border breach is possible.
"We have no choice," Conricus said. "There's no way we have the leniency or the flexibility to allow rioters to tear down the fence, for terrorists to come through following those rioters and get into Israel and terrorize Israeli civilians."
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Some U.S. universities called in police to break up demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war, resulting in ugly scuffles and dozens of arrests, while others appeared content to wait out student protests Thursday, as the final days of the semester ticked down and graduation ceremonies loomed.
At Emerson College in Boston, 108 people were arrested at an encampment overnight and four police officers suffered injuries that were not life-threatening, Boston police said. Those arrested were expected to appear Thursday in Boston Municipal Court.
Another 93 people were arrested Wednesday night during a protest at the University of Southern California, the Los Angeles Police Department said. There were no reports of injuries.
While grappling with growing protests from coast to coast, schools have the added pressure of May commencement ceremonies. At Columbia University in New York, students defiantly erected an encampment where many are set to graduate in front of families in just a few weeks. Columbia continued to negotiate with students after several failed attempts — and more than 100 arrests — to clear the encampment.
At USC, tensions were already high after the university canceled a planned commencement speech by the school’s pro-Palestinian valedictorian, citing safety concerns. After scuffles with police early Wednesday, a few dozen demonstrators standing in a circle with locked arms were detained one by one without incident later in the evening.
Officers encircled the dwindling group sitting in defiance of an earlier warning to disperse or be arrested. Beyond the police line, hundreds of onlookers watched as helicopters buzzed overhead. The school closed the campus.
Earlier Wednesday, officers at the University of Texas at Austin aggressively detained dozens of protesters. Hundreds of local and state police — including some on horseback and holding batons — bulldozed into protesters, at one point sending some tumbling into the street. Officers pushed their way into the crowd and made 34 arrests at the behest of the university and Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott, according to the state Department of Public Safety.
A photographer covering the demonstration for Fox 7 Austin was in the push-and-pull when an officer yanked him backward to the ground, video shows. The station confirmed that the photographer was arrested. A longtime Texas journalist was knocked down in the mayhem and could be seen bleeding before police helped him to emergency medical staff.
Dane Urquhart, a third-year Texas student, called the police presence and arrests an “overreaction," adding that the protest “would have stayed peaceful” if the officers had not turned out in force.
“Because of all the arrests, I think a lot more (demonstrations) are going to happen,” Urquhart said.
Police left after hours of efforts to control the crowd, and about 300 demonstrators moved back in to sit on the grass and chant under the school's iconic clock tower.
In a statement Wednesday night, the university's president, Jay Hartzell, said: “Our rules matter, and they will be enforced. Our University will not be occupied."
North of USC, protesters at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, were barricaded inside a building for a third day. The school shut down campus through the weekend and made classes virtual.
Harvard University in Massachusetts had sought to stay ahead of protests this week by limiting access to Harvard Yard and requiring permission for tents and tables. That didn't stop protesters from setting up a camp with 14 tents Wednesday after a rally against the university’s suspension of the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee.
Students protesting the Israel-Hamas war are demanding schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies enabling its monthslong conflict. Some Jewish students say the protests have veered into antisemitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus as graduation nears, partly prompting a heavier hand from universities.
At New York University this week, police said 133 protesters were taken into custody, while over 40 protesters were arrested Monday at an encampment at Yale University.
Columbia University averted another confrontation between students and police earlier Wednesday. University President Minouche Shafik had set on Tuesday a midnight deadline to reach an agreement on clearing an encampment, but the school extended negotiations until early Friday.
On a visit to campus Wednesday, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, called on Shafik to resign “if she cannot bring order to this chaos.”
“If this is not contained quickly and if these threats and intimidation are not stopped, there is an appropriate time for the National Guard,” he said.
On Wednesday evening, a Columbia spokesperson said rumors that the university had threatened to bring in the National Guard were unfounded. “Our focus is to restore order, and if we can get there through dialogue, we will,” said Ben Chang, Columbia’s vice president for communications.
Perry reported from Meredith, New Hampshire. Contributing to this report were Associated Press journalists in various locations including Joey Cappelletti, Will Weissert, Larry Lage, Steve LeBlanc, Dave Collins, Jim Salter, Haven Daley, Jesse Bedayn, John Antczak, Julie Walker and Joseph Krauss.
A row of Palestinian flags are seen on the fence at the pro-Palestinians demonstration encampment at Columbia University in New York on Wednesday April 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
University of Southern California protesters fight with University Public Safety officers as they try to remove tents at the campus' Alumni Park during a pro-Palestinian occupation on Wednesday, April 24, 2024 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) speaks to the media on the Lower Library steps on Columbia University's campus in New York on Wednesday April 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
Students and press look on as Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks to the media on the Lower Library steps on Columbia University's campus in New York, on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
Tents erected at the pro-Palestinian demonstration encampment at Columbia University in New York, on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
A University of Southern California protester, right, confronts a University Public Safety officer at the campus' Alumni Park during a pro-Palestinian occupation on Wednesday, April 24, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
A University of Southern California protester is detained by USC Department of Public Safety officers during a pro-Palestinian occupation at the campus' Alumni Park on Wednesday, April 24, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
A pro-Palestinian protester, who declined to give her name, leads chants at the University of Texas, Wednesday, April 24, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
Texas state troopers in riot gear try to break up a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Texas, Wednesday, April 24, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
University of Southern California protesters push and shove University Public Safety officers as tempers get heated during a pro-Palestinian occupation on the University of Southern California campus Wednesday, April 24, 2024 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
A University of Southern California protester is detained by USC Department of Public Safety officers during a pro-Palestinian occupation at the campus' Alumni Park on Wednesday, April 24, 2024 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
Texas state troopers march down Speedway during a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Texas, Wednesday, April 24, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
Demonstrators chant at a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Texas, Wednesday, April 24, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
State troopers try to break up a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Texas Wednesday April 24, 2024, in Austin, Texas. Student protests over the Israel-Hamas war have popped up on an increasing number of college campuses following last week's arrest of more than 100 demonstrators at Columbia University. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
University of Texas police officers arrest a man at a pro-Palestinian protest on campus, Wednesday April 24, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
