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MAGHAZI, Gaza — Fourteen-year-old Wisal Sheikh Khalil had wire cutters out and was trying to break through Gaza’s boundary fence into Israel when she was shot dead by Israeli soldiers on Monday, according to her younger brother, who was with her at the time.

She was one of at least 60 Palestinians whom local health officials say were killed by Israeli troops during protests this week along the fence.

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Israel’s sharpshooters, looking down from their nests on mounds of earth on the other side of the fence, have been permitted to use lethal force against those “endangering” the barrier, Israeli military officials say. These officials also say Israeli soldiers have been allowed to use live ammunition to shoot “instigators” among “rioters” on the border.

In both cases, the orders are to aim for the legs, they say, though Khalil was shot in the head.

The Israeli military declines to give much more detail about its rules of engagement, saying they are classified. But human rights groups say the few details provided by the Israeli military make clear that the orders given to soldiers are illegal. These groups accuse the Israeli military of not making enough effort to use other means of dispersing crowds.