Previously, the IDF was allowed in certain circumstances to use the Ruger rifle, which is considered less life-threatening than other IDF guns due to the less lethal ammunition it fires, to contain violence in the West Bank.

But until now police were prohibited from using the weapon in Jerusalem.

The new regulation is not expected to apply to all rock throwers, but to more dangerous cases of rock throwing , although not all of the specifics of the rules of engagement were made public.

The police have also increased checkpoints and brought in reinforcements in unstable areas around the city.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s recently announced war on rock throwing follows a wave of rock throwing and molotov cocktail incidents by Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank against Jews, some of which have even lead to deaths and have shaken the country’s sense of security.

On one hand, multiple human rights groups already are complaining about the more aggressive rules of engagement for the Jerusalem police as well as new check points set up around certain east Jerusalem neighborhoods.

B’tselem issued a statement on Thursday that “the outcome of legalizing fire on rock throwers in Jerusalem would be the legalizing of taking Palestinian minors’ blood.”

The human rights group stated that despite the Ruger’s less lethal character, that it could still prove deadly or cause serious bodily harm.

It added that Weinstein’s decision to permit use of the Ruger would “not lead to the result which the government is seeking, that of claiming the area, rather the opposite, to deadly outcomes and to widening the circle of violence.”

Honing in on prior incidents in the West Bank, B’tselem also argued that the use of the Ruger by security forces on the ground has gone beyond the official rules leading to deadly situations and its use should not be expanded but reduced.

Further, B’tselem said that the order contradicted the conclusions of the 2000 Or Commission which opposed the use of live fire of any kind for crowd control, limiting the use of live fire to instances of imminent danger.

The Or Commission, named for former Supreme Court justice Theodor Or, criticized the police’s response to Israeli-Arab rioting in the North during the Second Intafada as overly harsh.

Adalah – the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel a letter to Weinstein and other law enforcement officials, slammed what it called “collective punishment” regarding the new check points confronting some Israeli-Arab neighborhoods.

It noted that 20,000 people living in the southeastern Jerusalem Jebel Mukaber neighborhood were “completely closed off” from the rest of the city.

Next, the group said that residents lives could be endangered if they needed medical attention and faced delays in leaving their neighborhoods.

On the flip side regarding whether the changes will improve security, it is unclear if the new live fire regulations will even effectively reduce the most deadly incidents of rock throwing which often involve rock throwing on passing vehicles in areas where no police are stationed.

Further, there has been no apparent change to the rules of engagement for the IDF and border police which deal with protests and with violence in the West Bank.