Ramallah, February 23, 2024—An Israeli drone-fired missile struck and killed a 16-year-old Palestinian boy in the northern occupied West Bank last night.
Said Raed Said Jaradat, 16, was struck by an Israeli drone-fired missile around 9:30 p.m. on February 22 in Jenin refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International - Palestine. Two Israeli drone-fired missiles struck a car driven by Yasser Hanoun, a Palestinian man wanted by Israeli forces, who was also killed in the attack. Said sustained shrapnel wounds all over his body and was transferred to Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin, where he was pronounced dead around 1 a.m. today.
“Israeli forces continue showing contempt for Palestinian children’s lives as they carry out aerial attacks in densely populated civilian areas like Jenin refugee camp,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “Children like Said grow up in Palestinian communities where Israeli forces regularly carry out military attacks and incursions with complete impunity and demonstrate again and again that nowhere is safe for Palestinian children.”
At least five other Palestinian children were wounded in the drone strike, according to information collected by DCIP.
102 Palestinian children have been killed in the occupied West Bank since October 7, according to documentation collected by DCIP, when the Israeli military began a full-scale military offensive on the Gaza Strip dubbed Operation Iron Swords.
Israeli forces and settlers have killed 21 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank in 2024, including two United States citizens, according to documentation collected by DCIP.
In 2023, Israeli forces and settlers killed at least 121 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by DCIP. Israeli forces and settlers shot and killed 103 Palestinian children with live ammunition, 13 Palestinian children were killed in drone strikes, four Palestinian children were killed by missiles fired from a U.S.-sourced Apache attack helicopter, and one child was killed in an Israeli warplane airstrike.
Under international law, intentional lethal force is only justified in circumstances where a direct threat to life or of serious injury is present. However, investigations and evidence collected by DCIP regularly suggest that Israeli forces use lethal force against Palestinian children in circumstances that may amount to extrajudicial or wilful killings.
