Ramallah, July 27, 2024—An Israeli drone-fired missile killed a 17-year-old Palestinian boy in the northern occupied West Bank today.
Luai Mohammad Mustafa Masheh, 17, was struck by an Israeli drone-fired missile around 3:45 p.m. near the Bab Al-Hara supermarket in Balata refugee camp, near Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International - Palestine. Israeli forces fired live ammunition toward Palestinians trying to reach Luai and other injured Palestinians, and after about 15 minutes, camp residents carried Luai away from the area surrounding the strike to an ambulance. The ambulance brought Luai to Rafidia Governmental Hospital in Nablus, where he was pronounced dead around 4:20 p.m.
“Israeli forces continue showing contempt for Palestinian children’s lives as they carry out aerial attacks in densely populated civilian areas like Balata refugee camp,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “Children like Luai 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.”
Luai sustained deep shrapnel wounds and burns all over his body, according to information collected by DCIP.
The same drone strike injured at least seven other Palestinians, including a child, Mohammad Sirin Abdulkarim Abu Musalam. Mohammad suffered shrapnel injuries to his head and chest and is being treated at the Arab Specialist Hospital in Nablus.
Israeli forces injured more Palestinians with live ammunition, including a medic, when they attempted to approach Luai and the other Palestinians injured in the drone strike.
A Palestinian man was also killed during the Israeli military incursion.
Israeli forces surrounded Balata refugee camp around 3 p.m. today, leading to armed confrontations between Palestinian gunmen and Israeli soldiers. Luai was allegedly participating in the confrontations. Israeli forces withdrew from Balata camp around 5 p.m. and carried out a second incursion about 15 minutes later.
Israeli forces and settlers have killed 59 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank in 2024, including two United States citizens, according to documentation collected by DCIP.
140 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.
