IDF Soldiers Ordered To: "Shoot To Kill"

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Courtesy Of: Haaretz

By Yuval Yoaz,

Haaretz Correspondent

Last update - 03:47 08/01/2007

Soldiers and officers at the Girit outpost in the Gaza Strip, where a 13-year-old Palestinian girl was killed two years ago, claimed to have received orders to always shoot and kill when opening fire at night.

These orders violated the official rules of engagement in Gaza, according to a High Court of Justice ruling that ordered the army to open an investigation into this issue.The decision, issued in response to a petition by the family of Iman al-Hams, killed in October 2004, was handed down a month ago. However, the court published the reasons for its decision only Sunday.

...during the trial of Captain R. - who was charged with "confirming the kill" of al-Hams but acquitted after key prosecution witnesses admitted to having lied to investigators - several soldiers and officers told the military court that they had received completely different orders. Lieutenant Colonel Ofer, for instance, said bluntly: "At night, it was 'shoot to kill.'"

This testimony, Levy wrote in his decision, indicates that someone gave the battalion orders that differed substantially from the official rules of engagement. And this in turn mandates an investigation by the military advocate general - both to find those responsible and to ensure that such incidents do not recur.

...However, while the justices ordered a probe into the question of what orders the soldiers were issued, they rejected the petitioners' second request: that an investigation also be opened into whether these orders were clearly illegal, meaning that the soldiers should simply have disobeyed them.

Source:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/810455.html