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Israel Calls for PA Prisoners' Affairs Administration to be Designated as Terrorist

A boy holds a picture of Palestinian prisoner I during a rally calling on Israel to release her, in the West Bank city of Hebron (file photo: Reuters)
A boy holds a picture of Palestinian prisoner I during a rally calling on Israel to release her, in the West Bank city of Hebron (file photo: Reuters)
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Israel Calls for PA Prisoners' Affairs Administration to be Designated as Terrorist

A boy holds a picture of Palestinian prisoner I during a rally calling on Israel to release her, in the West Bank city of Hebron (file photo: Reuters)
A boy holds a picture of Palestinian prisoner I during a rally calling on Israel to release her, in the West Bank city of Hebron (file photo: Reuters)

A number of political right-wing figures in Israel and the US are pressuring both the US administration and the Israeli government to declare the Palestinian Commission of Detainees Affairs a terrorist organization.

The campaign was launched by a right-wing Israeli organization "Palestinian Media Watch" which sent direct messages to US President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz.

The organization has been working for more than 30 years against the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority (PA), claiming that they are running anti-Jewish policies, approaches and practices that support terrorism.

It played a central role in the campaign against paying salaries to Palestinian detainees serving sentences in Israeli prisons, as well as to the families of the deceased.

The Israeli government adopted this approach earlier and decided to deduct the salaries from Palestinian tax funds, which led to crisis between the Israeli government and the PA, after which the Palestinian Finance Ministry refused to receive the remaining amount.

The campaign was led by the US Republican Congressman, Doug Lamborn, who is the head of the Israeli lobby in the Congress.

In a letter to Trump on Thursday, Lamborn called for designating the commission and its director Qadri Abu Bakr, as "sponsors of terror" because of their direct involvement in providing monthly payments to prisoners and their families.

In turn, a group of the right-wing and center Knesset members sent a similar letter to Netanyahu and Gantz, saying: “It should not be, that while other nations around the world, especially our friend the United States, are making efforts to eradicate this phenomenon of terror payments, Israel will continue to keep quiet.”

The letter was signed by MKs: Matan Kahana of Yamina party, Oded Forer of Yisrael Beiteinu and Elazar Stern of Yesh Atid-Telem.

The parliamentarians said that they would put the issue on the Knesset's agenda soon, however, Netanyahu and Gantz did not comment on the matter.

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Gaza Civil Defense Describes Medic Killings as 'Summary Executions'

A video recovered from the phone of one of the slain aid workers, released by the Red Crescent, appeared to contradict the Israeli military's account - AFP
A video recovered from the phone of one of the slain aid workers, released by the Red Crescent, appeared to contradict the Israeli military's account - AFP
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Gaza Civil Defense Describes Medic Killings as 'Summary Executions'

A video recovered from the phone of one of the slain aid workers, released by the Red Crescent, appeared to contradict the Israeli military's account - AFP
A video recovered from the phone of one of the slain aid workers, released by the Red Crescent, appeared to contradict the Israeli military's account - AFP

Gaza's civil defense agency on Monday accused the Israeli military of carrying out "summary executions" in the killing of 15 rescue workers last month, rejecting the findings of an internal probe by the army.

The medics and other rescue workers were killed when responding to distress calls near Gaza's southern city of Rafah early on March 23, days into Israel's renewed offensive in the Hamas-run territory, AFP reported.

Among those killed were eight Red Crescent staff members, six from the Gaza civil defense rescue agency and one employee of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, according to the UN humanitarian agency OCHA and Palestinian rescuers.

"The video filmed by one of the paramedics proves that the Israeli occupation's narrative is false and demonstrates that it carried out summary executions," Mohammed Al-Mughair, a civil defense official, told AFP, accusing Israel of seeking to "circumvent" its obligations under international law.

Following the shooting, the Red Crescent released a video recovered from the phone of one of the victims. It does not show executions, but it does directly contradict the version of events initially put forward by the Israeli military.

In particular, the video shows clearly that the ambulances were travelling with sirens, flashing lights and headlights on. The military had claimed the ambulances were travelling "suspiciously" and without lights.

- Operational failures -

The incident drew international condemnation, including concern about possible war crimes from UN human rights commissioner Volker Turk.

An Israeli military investigation into the incident released on Sunday "found no evidence to support claims of execution" or "indiscriminate fire" by its troops, but admitted to operational failures and said it was firing a field commander.

It said six of those killed were militants, revising an earlier claim that nine of the men were fighters.

The dead, who were buried in sand by Israeli forces, were only recovered several days after the attack from what the UN human rights agency OCHA described as a "mass grave".

The Palestine Red Crescent Society denounced the report as "full of lies".

"It is invalid and unacceptable, as it justifies the killing and shifts responsibility to a personal error in the field command when the truth is quite different," Nebal Farsakh, spokesperson for the Red Crescent, told AFP.

The Israeli investigation said there were three shooting incidents in the area on that day.

In the first, soldiers shot at what they believed to be a Hamas vehicle.

In the second, around an hour later, troops fired "on suspects emerging from a fire truck and ambulances", the military said.

The probe determined that the fire in the first two incidents resulted from an "operational misunderstanding by the troops".

In the third incident, the troops fired at a UN vehicle "due to operational errors in breach of regulations", the military said.