Israel’s Central Command has released a series of videos detailing their wargaming and additional training for combat soldiers in the occupied West Bank, anticipating an escalation of the protests among Palestinians.
Protests in the West Bank have been growing for weeks, initially fueled by hunger striking detainees held by Israeli forces without charges, and then by the torture and death of one of the protesters over the weekend, while in Israeli custody.
Though so far the only death among protesters was after an arrest, Israeli troops have responded to demonstrations and stone throwers with live ammunition at times, and have wounded a large number of civilian demonstrators.
The military leadership is trying to convince troops to actually respect the rules of engagement, which explicitly ban the use of live ammunition in response to stones, and admonished them to avoid killing or wounding more civilians, warning it will just make protests worse.
