Ref: 74/2012

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) has sent a submission, in the form of an Individual Complaint, to the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, related to the willful killing of Saad al-Majdalawi by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip on 16
August 2011.

On 16 August 2011, Saad al-Majdalawi, a 17-year-old mentally disabled boy, died when he was targeted with live fire by Israeli forces positioned on the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel. Al-Majdalawi was walking approximately 300 meters away from the border fence, posing no threat to the lives of Israeli soldiers, when he was shot and killed. The targeted use of lethal force against al-Majdalawi, a
civilian, constitutes an act of willful killing, which qualifies as a war crime under Article 8(2)(b)(i-iii) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Al-Majdalawi’s inherent right to life, codified in Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 6 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, were also violated.

In this first submission, PCHR wishes to provide the Special Rapporteur with an Individual Complaint on behalf of theal-Majdalawi family. At a later date, PCHR will supplement this information provided to the Special Rapporteur by giving an update on the situation, updated statistics and other individual complaints, if appropriate. PCHR has supplemented its Individual Complaint with a Factsheet and Legal Briefing Note on the wilful killing of Palestinian civilians in the border areas of the Gaza Strip.

PCHR will be submitting either Memorandums or Individual Complaints bi-weekly to UN Working Groups and Special Rapporteurs, to draw attention to issues facing the Palestinian people.

Supplementary documents: 

Individual complaint related to the willful killing of Saad al-Majdalawi by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip on 16 August 2011 (pdf)

Briefing Note: Israel’sextrajudicial killing ofcivilians in or near the unilaterally imposed ‘buffer zone’ (pdf)

Fact sheet : Israel’s willful killing of civilians in or near the unilaterally imposed ‘buffer zone’ (pdf)