During a raid by Israeli occupation forces on the al-Fawwar Refugee Camp 6 km southwest of Hebron on August 16, 2016, Palestinian youths hurled stones at soldiers. One of the youths, Muhammad Abu Hashhash, 19, went home and subsequently re-exited his house, at which point a military sniper positioned in a nearby building shot and killed him.

B’Tselem has found that Abu Hashhash was killed by 0.22-inch bullets shot from a Ruger sniper rifle. According to military regulations, this type of weapon and ammunition is only permitted for use by Israeli soldiers in cases of mortal danger. However, in recent years 0.22 bullets have been regularly used for crowd control by the military even when such danger is not present. Since March 2015, use of this type of ammunition has resulted in the deaths of five Palestinians and the wounding of hundreds of others in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Mourners gather around the body of Palestinian Muhammad Abu Hashhash, who was shot dead during clashes with the Israeli army a day earlier, during his funeral on August 17, 2016 in the al-Fawwar Palestinian refugee camp, south of the West Bank city of Hebron (Photo: Actibestills)

During the same raid on the al-Fawwar Refugee Camp, one or more military snipers shot and hit Muhammad al-‘Amis, 22, with four 0.22 bullets as he was standing on the rooftop of his home, seriously wounding him. According to B’Tselem, “in recent years, the military has followed a policy that sanctions the use of live fire at stone-throwers, even when no mortal danger is present. In the case [of al-‘Amis], even this illegal policy was exceeded, with soldiers firing four bullets at a man who was not throwing stones or posing any other danger, almost killing him.”