Ramallah, October 30, 2023—Israeli forces killed a 16-year-old Palestinian boy using a drone-fired missile early this morning in the northern occupied West Bank.
Israeli forces killed Mousa Khaled Mousa Jabarin, 16, using a drone-fired missile around 4:30 a.m. on October 30 in Jenin refugee camp, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International - Palestine. Israeli forces accompanied by military bulldozers and aircrafts entered Jenin around 1:30 a.m. and began destroying streets, homes, and personal vehicles leading toward Jenin refugee camp. Armed Palestinians confronted Israeli forces until Israeli forces withdrew around 6:30 a.m. Mousa was allegedly throwing homemade explosive devices toward a group of Israeli military vehicles, including bulldozers, when an Israeli drone-fired missile struck the area where he was standing. Other young Palestinians carried Mousa to the main entrance of Jenin refugee camp, where an ambulance transferred him to Jenin Governmental Hospital. Doctors pronounced Mousa dead on arrival.
“Israeli forces are now regularly using weaponized aerial drones and attack helicopters to carry out attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “Palestinian children are bearing the brunt of decades of systemic impunity as a result of the international community refusing to hold Israeli authorities accountable for mass atrocities and violations of international law. Israeli forces are deliberately resorting to the unlawful use of force in attacks against Palestinians throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
Mousa sustained several shrapnel wounds to his head, neck, and chest, according to information collected by DCIP. Israeli forces killed four Palestinians during the incursion into Jenin, including Mousa.
During the Israeli military incursion into Jenin, Israeli forces destroyed essential civilian infrastructure including the main electricity lines for Jenin refugee camp, cutting off electricity for camp residents. Many Palestinian families fled their homes during the incursion and took shelter in the courtyards of hospitals in Jenin.
Israeli forces have escalated military operations throughout the occupied West Bank in recent weeks, carrying out increasing numbers of search and arrest operations.
Throughout the occupied West Bank, Palestinians have organized marches and demonstrations over the past week in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip bearing the brunt of Israeli land, sea, and air attacks after Palestinian armed groups fired rockets toward Israel and breached the Israeli perimeter fence surrounding Gaza early on October 7, launching attacks inside Israel. Israeli forces initiated a large-scale military operation dubbed Operation Iron Swords.
36 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 bombardment on the Gaza Strip dubbed Operation Iron Swords.
So far this year, Israeli forces and settlers have killed at least 76 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by DCIP. Israeli forces and settlers shot and killed 67 Palestinian children with live ammunition, five Palestinian children were killed in a drone strike, and four Palestinian children were killed by missiles fired from a U.S.-sourced Apache attack helicopter.
At least 115 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank since October 7, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
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.
