Mohammad Mansour/AFP/Getty Images
Israeli military fired warning shots at a large delegation of European and Arab diplomats on an official visit in the Occupied West Bank near the Jenin Refugee camp.
The Delegate consisted of persons from over 20 countries from the EU and UK. These delegates were on an official mission to observe the humanitarian situation around the besieged Jenin refugee camp.
According to the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which called the incident a “deliberate and unlawful act.”
Distressing video of the incident showed Israeli soldiers firing in the general direction of the delegates before backing away from a gate blocking the rode. 7 shots were heard in the video with one of the delegates cautioning the group to stick to the wall.
“The ministry holds the Israeli occupying government fully and directly responsible for this criminal assault and affirms that such acts will not pass without accountability,” the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
The IDF said that the visit to the camp was coordinated well in advance. The military said it launched an initial investigation once it became clear that the group was a diplomatic delegation. Their claims for the warning shots comes from accusations of the group deviating from the planned route.
Roland Friedrich, the director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in the West Bank, refuted the Israeli military’s version of events, saying that its explanations “do not fully capture the severity of today’s event.”
“This incident is a stark reminder of the lax use of excessive force routinely deployed by Israeli security forces in the West Bank, often with lethal consequences,” Friedrich said. “This raises serious concerns over the way rules of engagement are applied to unarmed civilians.”
After an incident near the Jenin refugee camp where a diplomatic delegation was shot at, numerous international officials condemned the act and demanded an investigation.
EU High Representative Kaja Kallas, along with the foreign ministers of Italy, France, Spain, Canada, and Finland, announced they would summon Israeli ambassadors to express their “unacceptable” concerns and call for accountability.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney echoed this sentiment, stating it was “totally unacceptable” and part of broader unacceptable actions in the region.
Other European nations including Ireland, Belgium, Slovenia, Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, and the United Kingdom also condemned the shooting.
Additionally, foreign ministries from Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, and Qatar strongly criticized the incident, with Turkey’s ministry stating it demonstrated Israel’s “systematic disregard for international law and human rights” and demanded an immediate investigation and accountability for those responsible.
