by Our Foreign Desk

ISRAEL’s security cabinet “unanimously approved” proposals on Thursday night for the use of more violent force against Palestinians.

Police will now be able to shoot people “when they face danger to any lives” instead of just their own — a rule already interpreted very laxly.

Youths whom police allege to have thrown stones, “firebombs and fireworks” face at least four years in jail.

The reality of restrictions on shooting by Israeli police and soldiers was shown clearly by a report by human rights group B’Tselem into the killing of 18-year-old Palestinian woman Hadil al-Hashlamun at a checkpoint in Hebron on Tuesday.

Ms Hashlamun approached the checkpoint which led from the Palestinian-run part of the city to that controlled by Israeli occupation forces.

She froze at the checkpoint and a local man tried to help her leave — at which point she was shot in the leg.

As she fell, a knife was seen in her right hand. “She did not get up, but the soldier shot her again, in the other leg, and seconds later in the torso,” said B’Tselem’s report. She died later in hospital.

B’Tselem found that the troops “did not try to subdue Ms Hashlamun and take her into custody without resorting to live fire.

“The military’s knee-jerk defence of the soldiers … sends a clear message that when it comes to using force against Palestinian civilians there are very few limitations.”