Israel is being accused of carrying out new extrajudicial killings of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. On Thursday, the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said Israeli troops deliberately murdered four Palestinian militants in Bethlehem earlier this month. Sarit Michaeli of B’Tselem says Israeli troops made no effort to arrest the victims.

Sarit Michaeli: “According to the Israeli high court, it is not permissible to intentionally kill a Palestinian suspect if there is a possibility of using less extreme measures, such as arresting and trying him. Based on our research, it appears that the forces on this operation acted as if it was an assassination operation: they did not make any attempt to arrest the four suspects but immediately opened fire at them and, following that, confirmed the kill by firing at them again after the operation was over.”

The March 12th attack broke a temporary five-day tacit truce between Israel and Palestinian militants.