B'Tselem, the respected Israeli human rights NGO, began a media campaign today urging Israel Defense Forces soldiers posted on the Gaza border to disobey "patently illegal" shoot-to-kill orders against unarmed protesters. The Ministry of Health in Gaza says one Palestinian has been killed by Israeli soldiers near the border, while another has died of their injuries after being shot by the Israelis earlier. "Firing at unarmed demonstrators is illegal, and an order to do so is even more illegal," a B'Tselem spokesman said.Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) wrote on Twitter that B'Tselem should instead go to the Gaza Strip and tell people there not to lay explosives on the border, fire at soldiers, and violate Israel's security. The Israeli military has said its tough response is justified because the protests were organized by Hamas, an Islamic militant group sworn to Israel’s destruction. Orders to open fire on unarmed civilians, B’Tselem added, are a case of “unmistakable illegality patently evident in the order itself, it is a command that bears a clearly criminal nature or that the actions it orders are of a clearly criminal nature.”

Like all other countries, B’Tselem said, Israel’s actions are subject to international law and restrictions on the use of weapons, specifically the use of live fire.
Israeli human rights group B'Tselem launches a campaign calling on soldiers to refuse orders at the border.