JERUSALEM - American doctors who examined Israel's use of force in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have concluded that Israeli soldiers appeared to be deliberately targeting the heads and legs of Palestinian protesters, even in non-life-threatening situations.

In a separate finding, the report concluded that the death of a Palestinian near the West Bank town of Ramallah was due to a car wreck and not to torture by Israelis.

The two reports, written by Physicians for Human Rights, based in Boston, were issued yesterday as Israelis and Palestinians entered a sixth week of fighting. (Full report: http://www.phrusa.org/research/forensics/israel/Israel_force.html)

The Israeli Army responded that its soldiers fired on Palestinians only when they faced gunfire or other deadly force.

''The army's policy of restraint and precision has been scrupulously adhered to for more than a month,'' a spokesman said. ''It's safe to assume that many of the dead Palestinians were hit, regrettably, in their upper body simply because they were shooting or carrying out other lethal attacks against civilians and Israeli security forces.''

But the rights group, whose doctors spent a week checking patients and meeting hospital authorities and other officials, said the army used live ammunition and rubber bullets excessively and inappropriately on protesters.

Dr. Robert Kirschner of the University of Chicago Medical School said law enforcement officials worldwide are trained when under threat to shoot attackers in the chest, the body's biggest target. The fact that many Palestinians were hit in the head and legs suggest that soldiers had ample time to aim, and thus were probably not in life-threatening situations, he said.

''The pattern of injuries that we see doesn't reflect that Israelis were shooting at armed people. Clearly some people were holding weapons, but many were not,'' Kirschner said.

The Israeli Army spokesman praised the report for its conclusions regarding Palestinian Issam Judeh Mustafah Hamed, whose body was found on a West Bank road last month.

Palestinians said Israelis had abducted Hamed and tortured him to death. Kirschner said Hamed's wounds left no doubt he was killed in a car accident.

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