Israel has refused to change its rules of engagement in the occupied West Bank, despite pressure to do so from the United States, The New Arab reported.
This came after an Israeli admission that there was a “high possibility” that one of its soldiers killed Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in the West Bank city of Jenin last May.
Israel’s alternate Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Tuesday that the Israeli army’s rules of engagement “will be determined by IDF commanders, independent of any pressure – internal or external”.
The U.S. says it will press Israel on rules of engagement after the Israel Defense Forces concluded Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was likely shot by an Israeli solider https://t.co/hfVXipAt3H https://t.co/hfVXipAt3H
— Reuters (@Reuters) September 6, 2022
Bennett was responding to comments made by US State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel on the same day, regarding the latest Israeli report into Shireen Abu Akleh’s death.
“We will continue to press Israel directly and closely at the senior-most levels to review its policies and practices on this to ensure that something like this doesn’t happen again in the future,” Patel said, referring to the Israeli rules of engagement.
However, Bennett said he gave his “full backing” to Israeli soldiers, according to Haaretz.
Israel has conducted deadly raids on West Bank cities on a daily basis for a number of months now, killing and injuring scores of Palestinians.
(The New Arab, PC, SOCIAL)
