Ramallah, November 23, 2023—Israeli forces shot and killed a 14-year-old Palestinian boy in the northern occupied West Bank yesterday.
Motaz Anas Subhi Mansour, 14, was shot in the chest by an Israeli soldier around 4:30 p.m. on November 22 in the Palestinian village of Burin, located south of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International - Palestine. Motaz sustained a gunshot wound to the chest from a distance of 100 to 130 meters (328 to 427 feet) away. A private vehicle transported Motaz to an ambulance which brought him to Rafidia Governmental Hospital in Nablus, where he was pronounced dead around 5 p.m.
“Palestinian children continue to bear the brunt of the Israeli military’s shoot-to-kill policy,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “Israeli forces roam the occupied West Bank knowing they can kill any Palestinian with complete impunity, including children like 14-year-old Motaz.”
Israeli forces carried out a three-day military incursion into Burin, which included firing tear gas canisters, sound grenades, and live ammunition at Palestinians. Israeli soldiers patrolled the streets of Burin, verbally and physically provoking its residents.
Motaz was at his grandfather’s house in the center of the village when he heard Palestinians confronting Israeli forces outside, and he left the house to stand in an alley nearby. He threw a stone at Israeli soldiers who were more than 100 to 130 meters (328 to 427 feet) away from him, and when he picked up a second stone, an Israeli soldier shot him in the chest, causing him to fall to the ground.
The Palestinian village of Burin is surrounded by illegal Israeli settlements, and two Israeli military camps.
55 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.
So far this year, Israeli forces and settlers have killed at least 95 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by DCIP. Israeli forces and settlers shot and killed 81 Palestinian children with live ammunition, nine 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.
At least 209 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.
