Ramallah, August 29, 2024—An Israeli drone-fired missile struck and killed 13-year-old and 17-year-old Palestinian brothers in the northern occupied West Bank yesterday.
Murad Masoud Mohammad Na'ja, 13, and Mohammad Masoud Mohammad Na'ja, 17, were struck by an Israeli drone-fired missile around 12 a.m. on August 28 in Al-Far'a refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International - Palestine. The Israeli drone-fired missile deliberately struck Murad and Mohammad, killing them immediately and causing their bodies to be torn apart. The children were with their older brother on the roof of their house located near the Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq Mosque in the middle of Al-Far'a refugee camp.
“Israeli forces continue showing contempt for Palestinian children’s lives as they carry out aerial attacks in densely populated civilian areas in the largest military incursion into the West Bank in two decades,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “Children like Murad and Mohammad 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.”
The older brother sustained injuries from shrapnel and burns to his upper limbs with critical health condition and the father of the three siblings was injured by minor shrapnel while he was standing in front of the door of the house. A Palestinian ambulance transferred both the father and the older brother to the hospital because they were still alive.
Israeli forces intercepted the ambulance and medical crews, delaying the evacuation of the bodies of Murad and Mohammad. Their remains stayed on the roof of the house until around 8:30 a.m. on August 28, when they were transferred to the Tubas Turkish Hospital.
A large-scale Israeli military incursion, called "Operation Summer Camps,” launched around 12 a.m. on August 28 and is ongoing, targeting several refugee camps in the northern occupied West Bank. Dozens of Israeli military vehicles, accompanied by military bulldozers and supported by military aircraft, stormed the city and camp of Jenin and several towns in the Jenin Governorate including Kafr Dan and Al-Yamoun towns, along with storming of Nour Shams refugee camp, east of Tulkarem and Far'a refugee camp, south of Tubas.
Israeli forces deployed across the targeted refugee camps, seizing Palestinian homes to use as military bases and stationing snipers on the roofs of buildings, subjecting their residents to field investigations. The military bulldozers began destroying the civil infrastructure, which led to the destruction of the main water networks and power outage in several neighborhoods in the targeted areas.
Israeli forces besieged several hospitals in Jenin and impeded the movement of ambulances and paramedics. The large-scale incursion has resulted in the killing of at least 18 Palestinians in the northern occupied West Bank, and many more are injured.
Israeli forces and settlers have killed 70 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank in 2024, including two United States citizens, according to documentation collected by DCIP.
151 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.
