Report: Probe concludes IDF failures led to killings of 4 Palestinians

An Israel Defense Forces probe into two incidents in the West Bank last month concluded that tactical failures led to the killings of four Palestinians, Army Radio reported on Monday.

The investigation, carried out by GOC Central Command Avi Mizrahi, indicated that better preparation and deployment on the part of IDF troops could have prevented the Palestinians' deaths.

The two incidents in question occurred on March 20 and 21. In the first incident, 16-year-old Mohammed Kadus from Iraq Burin was killed after sustaining a torso injury from IDF fire during a protest in the village. The following day, Oseyd Abd al-Nasser Kadus, 17, died after sustaining a head wound during the same incident.

The IDF maintains its soldiers fired rubber-coated bullets to disperse rioters, while the human rights group B'Tselem said troops fired live bullets.

X-ray images the military acquired from Rafidia Surgery Hospital in Nablus showed that the bullet had penetrated Kadus' skull. Troops maintained that they had fired from a distance of 70 meters, but the wounds shown in the images make it unlikely they were caused by rubber bullets, a conclusion also reached by Israeli forensics experts.

The IDF inquiry released Monday failed to resolve what type of bullets were used in the first incident, and the matter is still under investigation.

The IDF report, however, pointed to operational failures in the deployment of forces ahead of the protest, saying troops had arrived unprepared for violent protest and were subsequently ordered to shoot rubber bullets into the crowd.

A senior IDF officer told Army Radio that even a violent protest should not end with such deaths. "The use of rubber bullets is intended to prevent serious casualties and deaths," the officer said. "Only a violation of guidelines leads to such a lethal outcome."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1160984.html