The Israel army has decided to allow its soldiers to shoot at "any Palestinian carrying a weapon under circumstances that raise suspicions he may be a combatant against the army or belong to a Palestinian force operating against the army.”
According to Haaretz newspaper, the army justified the new measures to “loosen the rules” as a result of the sharp increase in the number of clashes with resistance fighters in the Occupied Territories, especially in the last week.
However, Israel is still officially committed to the declaration and the ceasefire agreement worked out by CIA Director George Tenet in June, the army claimed.
A senior army officer told the paper that the new "flexibility" was not aimed at escalating the violence.
"The level of threat to soldiers has risen significantly recently, as a result of the increase in the number of incidents and their severity,” he said.
"This is not the same as the period nine or ten months ago. We won't react with massive fire in response to a single bullet fired at us or turn a Palestinian neighborhood into a ghost town. The [army] may be giving soldiers more means, but the Tenet agreement is still in the background,” he said – Albawaba.com
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