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IDF’s JAG says .22-caliber rounds should not be used to disperse protesters

Amos Harel | Ha’aretz

12 July 2009

The army does not classify .22-inch caliber bullets as a suitable means to disperse demonstrators, the judge advocate general, Brig.-Gen. Avichai Mendelblit, told the human rights group B’Tselem yesterday. According to the organization, the use of .22-caliber bullets resulted in the death of at least two unarmed Palestinians. On February 13, Az a-Din al-Jamal, 14, was killed in Hebron; and on June 5, Aqel Sror, 35, was shot and killed in a demonstration in the village of Ni’lin. Dozens of people have been wounded from the bullets, some seriously. B’Tselem says since Sror’s death, 0.22-caliber bullets have not been fired at demonstrators in Ni’lin.

Yesterday morning, shots were fired at an Israeli car near Ramallah, south of the settlement of Ofra. The shooting did not result in casualties or damage.