Between 25 and 27 September, at least 62 Palestinians were killed and around 1200 injured when Israeli forces opened fire on demonstrators in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. At least 10 of those killed were children. DCI\PS has been unable to verify the exact number of children amongst the injured due to the chaos that has characterised the last 3 days and the rapidly escalating number of injuries. The flow of information has moreover been hindered by the fact that doctors, journalists, human rights activists and community leaders have been amongst the injured.

Serious clashes began on 25 September when 1000's of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza marched towards the checkpoints on the outer borders of the cities, which are controlled by the Israeli army, to protest the opening of the Western Wall Tunnel onto the Via Dolorosa in the Old City of Jerusalem. The Tunnel runs beneath property owned by the Islamic Wakf and along one side of the Haram el Sharif. Conducting excavations on occupied land is in violation of international humanitarian law.

Most of the marches were led by school children and university students and were bordered by Palestinian police. Israel's reaction to the unarmed demonstrators, however, was excessive and disproportionate, and undermines the official claim of self-defence that has since been made by the government: 1000's of troops were deployed as reinforcement (including 10 000 in Jerusalem, 3000 of which were deployed inside the Old City itself. Tanks were deployed to different checkpoints after the first day of demonstrations. Helicopters hovered stationary in mid-air from which snipers shot at demonstrators and Palestinian police on the ground.

Despite Israel's official line that only rubber bullets were used, hospitals reported the wide use of live ammunition. In Jerusalem, after the clashes which followed Friday prayers on 27 September, ambulances were prevented from reaching the grounds surrounding al aqsa mosque to administer first-aid and transport the injured to hospital. Israeli army and police were also reportedly forming barricades outside Damascus Gate to prevent stretchers being taken in to carry the wounded to the ambulances.

The innumerable injuries to the upper-body, and more specifically to the head and chest, the use of both live and rubber bullets, the targeted sniping from helicopters, the indiscriminate shooting at unarmed members of the crowd, including children and the elderly, all point to the Israeli forces' intent to kill and maim rather than disperse the demonstrators or exercise any kind of restraint. The Children who died as a result of this policy so far were:

• Nura Musa Abu Sa'da, 17 years, from Deir El Balah in the Gaza Strip, from bullet wounds to the head.
• Kassem Suleiman El Baheissi, 15 years, from Zawayed in the Gaza Strip, from bullet wounds to the head.
• Mohammed El Bayoumi, 17 years, from Rafah in the Gaza Strip, from bullet wounds to the head.
• Hani Jalal Musa, 17 years, from Deir El Balah in the Gaza Strip, from bullet wounds.
• Mohammed Abed El Karim, 14 years, from El Astal in the Gaza Strip, from bullet wounds.
• Rashad Khader Abu Toha, 18 years, from the Gaza Strip, from bullet wounds to the head.
• Ashraf Mohammed Mehdi, 18 years, from Beit Lihya in the Gaza Strip, from bullet wound to the head.
• Mohammed Abdallah Ahmad Hamed, 18 years, from Silwad in Ramallah, from bullet wounds.
• Raed Ibrahim Sharake, 15 years, from Jalazon Camp in Ramallah, from bullet wounds.
• Amin Mohammed Jaber Barbakh, 17 years, from Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip, from a bullet wound in the stomach.

Organisations and concerned individuals should make immediate interventions regarding the excessive and disproportionate force used by Israel to the following: