An Israeli rights watchdog accused Israeli soldiers on Wednesday of killing five unarmed Palestinians in a recent raid, and said the assassination of West Bank Arabs had become routine.
An army spokesman dismissed the findings of the B'tselem rights group, which said that three of the five killed in the August 24 raid were unarmed 17-year-olds while the other two were civilian supporters of militant groups.
B'tselem spokeswoman Sarit Michaeli said the army's actions showed Israeli soldiers exercised little restraint with their weapons in arrest raids.