Ramallah, February 17, 2025—Israeli forces killed a 16-year-old Palestinian boy during the ongoing “Iron Wall” operation in the northern occupied West Bank then desecrated his body on February 12.
Mohammad Ghassan Khader Abed, 16, was killed by Israeli forces around 3 p.m. on February 12 in the Schools Area in the western side of Nour Shams refugee camp, east of Tulkarem in the northern occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International - Palestine. Israeli authorities have confiscated Mohammad’s body and the method by which he was killed is unknown.
“Israeli forces will stop at nothing to humiliate and control Palestinians, including children,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “Mohammad is one of dozens of children whose bodies are being withheld by Israeli authorities, an act of collective punishment upon the families who cannot bury and grieve their children.”
The Ministry of Health announced in the evening on February 14 that it had received a report from the Ministry of Civil Affairs stating that the Palestinian Liaison had informed that the Israeli forces had confiscated the bodies of three Palestinians from Nour Shams refugee Camp, including Mohammad Abed.
Media and news pages circulated a picture of an Israeli military bulldozer carrying piles of rubble in its front blade, which was covered with a blanket. The bulldozer withdrew from the Schools Area in the western side of the refugee camp towards the Nitzani Oz checkpoint, west of Tulkarem. Given that the rubble was covered, the image raised suspicions that the bulldozer might have been transporting bodies, especially since Israeli forces have employed this method in past raids across different areas.
Mohammad's father reported that he had not received any notification regarding the killing of his child, and only learned of the news through the Palestinian liaison. He does not know the nature of his injury.
Israeli forces’ desecration of Mohammad’s body is a violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, which include absolute prohibitions on cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, as well as stipulate that parties of an armed conflict must bury the deceased in an honorable way.
Israeli military forces stormed the Nour Shams refugee camp in Tulkarem around 3:30 a.m. on Sunday, February 9, accompanied by both crawler and wheeled bulldozers. This incursion is part of the ongoing large-scale military operation “Iron Wall” carried out by the Israeli forces in the northern occupied West Bank since January 21, with a focus on Jenin, Tulkarem and Tubas, and their refugee camps and surrounding villages. The Israeli military has carried out massive attacks, forcible displacements, and destruction of civilian infrastructure.
Since the Israeli military incursion into Nour Shams refugee camp began and is still ongoing, the death toll has risen to six Palestinians, including two women and the child Mohammad Abed, whose body was confiscated. Due to the evacuation and displacement of the residents of Nour Shams refugee camp, there are no eyewitnesses who can verify the circumstances surrounding Mohammad's killing.
Israeli forces have killed 13 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank in 2025, according to documentation collected by DCIP. Seven children were killed by Israeli drone strikes, five children were shot and killed with live ammunition and one child with unknown nature of injury.
Israeli forces have withheld the bodies of at least 46 Palestinian children since June 2016, according to documentation collected by DCIP. Six of the children’s bodies have since been released to their families, while 40 Palestinian children’s bodies remain withheld by Israeli authorities.
Israeli authorities’ practice of confiscating and withholding Palestinian bodies is a violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, which include absolute prohibitions on cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, as well as stipulate that parties of an armed conflict must bury the deceased in an honorable way. For families, the practice amounts to collective punishment in violation of international humanitarian law.
In September 2019, the Israeli Supreme Court approved the practice of confiscating human remains after several legal challenges to the policy. On November 27, 2019, Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett ordered all bodies of Palestinians alleged to have attacked Israeli citizens or soldiers to be withheld and not returned to their families. Israel is the only country in the world with such a policy of confiscating human remains, according to Adalah.
In 2024, Israeli forces and settlers killed at least 93 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by DCIP. Israeli forces and settlers shot and killed 71 Palestinian children with live ammunition, 17 Palestinian children were killed in drone strikes, three Palestinian children were killed in an Israeli warplane airstrike, one child was killed by Israeli-fired ground shell, and one child was killed by unexploded ordnance (UXO) left behind by Israeli forces.
