Ramallah, September 6, 2024—Israeli forces shot and killed a 16-year-old Palestinian boy in the northern occupied West Bank then desecrated his body on Thursday.
Majed Feda Abdulqader Abu Zeina, 16, was shot in the leg by an Israeli soldier from a distance of 30 meters (98 feet) around 1:45 a.m. on September 5 in the Abu Zeina neighborhood of Al-Far’a refugee camp, south of Tubas in the northern occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International - Palestine. Israeli soldiers approached Majed as he lay injured on the ground and prevented a Palestinian ambulance from reaching him. Majed pleaded with Israeli soldiers to let the ambulance help him, but they ignored him. A soldier ordered Majed to lift up his shirt, which revealed a homemade explosive device that Majed was allegedly carrying. The Israeli soldier then shot Majed at point-blank range in the neck, killing him.
Israeli forces continued preventing an ambulance from reaching Majed, and about an hour later, an Israeli military bulldozer arrived, picked up Majed’s body with the front blade, and drove around Al-Far’a refugee camp for an hour before throwing his body in a southern part of the camp called Al-Tal.
“Israeli forces invaded Majed’s community in the middle of the night, shot him multiple times, and made sure he was terrified and in excruciating pain when they killed him,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “Then, Israeli soldiers paraded his body around Al-Far’a camp in the front of a bulldozer in a disgusting act of cruel and degrading treatment. When will world leaders intervene to protect Palestinian children?”
Majed’s body remained on the ground until around 7 a.m., when an ambulance crew was finally able to reach him and transport his body to the Turkish Governmental Hospital in Tubas.
Majed sustained three gunshot wounds to one leg and another gunshot wound to the front of his neck, with an exit wound through his back, according to medical reports reviewed by DCIP. Additionally, Majed’s body had many open wounds due to the Israeli military’s desecration of his body.
Israeli forces, accompanied by military bulldozers, entered Al-Far’a refugee camp around 12:20 a.m. on September 5. Israeli snipers took positions on several buildings. Armed Palestinians confronted Israeli forces and the military bulldozers began destroying the camp’s roads as well as several shops and homes.
Israeli forces’ desecration of Majed’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.
A large-scale Israeli military incursion, called "Operation Summer Camps,” launched around 12 a.m. on August 28, 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 and Tulkarem refugee camps, east of Tulkarem and Al-Far'a refugee camp, south of Tubas.
Israeli forces and settlers have killed 76 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank in 2024, including two United States citizens, according to documentation collected by DCIP.
157 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.
