Mahmoud al-Sadi, 17, was killed by Israeli forces as he walked to school near the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank on November 21, 2022. The Israeli military said it had been conducting arrest raids in the camp, during which they exchanged fire with Palestinian fighters. But according to camp residents, the nearest exchange of fire occurred about 320 meters away from where Mahmoud was shot.
Mahmoud is one of several children in the West Bank who have been killed by Israeli military and border police forces in the last year.
In fact, while 2022 was the deadliest year for Palestinian children in the West Bank in 15 years, 2023 is on track to meet or exceed those levels. Human Rights Watch investigated four such fatal shootings of Palestinian children by Israeli forces between November 2022 and March 2023.
In the other cases investigated, the security forces killed boys after they had joined other youths confronting Israeli forces with stones, Molotov cocktails, or fireworks. While these can injure or kill, in these cases, Israeli forces fired repeatedly at chest-level, hitting multiple children, and killed some in situations where they did not appear be posing a threat of serious injury or death, which would make these killings unlawful.
Mohammed al-Sleem, 17, was shot in the back while running from Israeli soldiers after a group of friends he was with threw rocks, and allegedly Molotov cocktails, at military vehicles that had entered a village near his hometown in the northern West Bank.
As the vehicles arrived, Mohammed ran past an elementary school near the village road and through plots of land with olive trees, his friends said. One friend, age 16, recalled, “We started running, and Mohamed told me, ‘I’m hit’, and I said, ‘Run! Run!’ and I was shot too. I ran about 100 meters, then I couldn’t go on.” A bullet pierced the back of Mohammed’s friend’s left shoulder and exited his chest.
In each case HRW documented, Israeli forces shot the children’s upper bodies, without, according to witnesses, issuing warnings or using common, less-lethal measures such as tear gas, concussion grenades, or rubber-coated bullets.
Israeli authorities have used excessive force against Palestinians in policing situations for decades. These killings take place as Palestinian children live a reality of apartheid and violence.
Israel’s allies should finally confront this ugly reality and create real pressure for accountability.
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