Ramallah, April 15, 2024—Israeli forces shot and killed a 17-year-old Palestinian boy in the northern occupied West Bank this morning.
Yazan Mohammad Fawzi Shtayeh, 17, was shot by Israeli forces around 9:25 a.m. today during an Israeli military incursion into the Rafidia neighborhood of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International - Palestine. Yazan was shot in the chest by an Israeli soldier firing from inside a heavily armored Israeli military vehicle from a distance of about 20 to 30 meters (66 to 98 feet) while allegedly throwing stones toward Israeli soldiers alongside other Palestinian youth. An ambulance brought Yazan to Rafidia Governmental Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.
“Palestinian children like Yazan live in a hyper-militarized environment where Israeli forces routinely carry out military incursions into Palestinian communities where they arrest, injure, and even kill Palestinians, including children,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “Decades of impunity have emboldened Israeli soldiers to shoot to kill Palestinian children without consequence.”
The bullet that struck Yazan in the chest exited from his back, according to information collected by DCIP. Two other young Palestinian men were injured by Israeli military gunfire during the incursion, which began around 8:40 a.m. today.
Israeli forces and settlers have killed 36 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank in 2024, including two United States citizens, according to documentation collected by DCIP.
117 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.
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.
