The Israeli news channel 13 reported Wednesday that the Israeli Chief of Staff, Aviv Kochavi, ordered the authorization of armored drones to carry out airstrikes against the Palestinian people in the West Bank.
Kochavi claimed ‘success’ in the Jenin ‘operation’ on Wednesday, in which Israeli forces attacked the people of Jenin with drones, armored vehicles and guns, killing 4 and wounding 50 Palestinians.
According to the Israeli news channel 13, Kochavi stated, “I am not interested in elections or holidays; wherever there is intelligence about terrorists, it must be dealt with.”
Kochavi claimed, in speaking with Channel 13, that the Jenin airstrikes were targeted assassinations, aimed at killing the brother of a Palestinian man who carried out an attack in Tel Aviv. The military claimed that he was responsible for shooting at an Israeli Ministry of Defense tractor near Jalama village about a week ago.
The attack in Jenin Tuesday was part of a deliberate new strategy by the Israeli military to carry out so-called ‘targeted assassinations’ by drone strike.
Two weeks before the invasion of Jenin on September 28th, Israeli media reported that military commanders had announced plans to use armed drones in the West Bank, and the “Menashe Brigade” underwent training on the operation of armed drones to use in invasions into areas of the West Bank.
While the illegal Israeli policy of extra-judicially assassinating Palestinian fighters, political leaders, and even social figures is not new, the army largely used fighter jets to fire missiles into homes and buildings or at cars to conduct these assassinations, an issue that always led to large numbers of civilian casualties.
These extras-judicial assassinations were largely not carried out during armed confrontations and targeted not only fighters but also focused on political leaders and even social figures in what Israel “justified” as “preemptive strikes”.
The new regulations of using armed drones in the West Bank would likely be used to assassinate fighters actively engaging or about to engage in exchanging fire with invading brigades and soldiers.
