Ramallah, February 29, 2024—Israeli forces shot and killed a 17-year-old Palestinian boy in the northern occupied West Bank early this morning.
Bashar Nihad Abdulatif Hanani, 17, was shot in the back by Israeli forces around 1 a.m. this morning during a military incursion into the Palestinian town of Beit Furik, east of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International - Palestine. Bashar was standing on a wall near the Friendship Medical Center, allegedly throwing stones towards Israeli soldiers located about 25 to 35 meters (82 to 115 feet) away. Israeli forces fired live ammunition toward Bashar, causing him to fall from the wall, which was about 1.5 meters (five feet) tall. Palestinian paramedics carried Bashar into the medical center, then transferred him in an ambulance to Rafidia Governmental Hospital in Nablus. Doctors pronounced Bashar dead around 1:30 a.m.
“Palestinian children like Bashar grow up in hyper-militarized communities that Israeli forces enter in the middle of the night to harm and terrify Palestinian children and their families,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “As Palestinian children are increasingly targets in the West Bank, Israeli forces’ rules of engagement seemingly allow direct targeting of Palestinian children where no threat exists to justify the use of intentional lethal force.”
Bashar was struck with at least one bullet to the lower back, which exited from his abdomen, according to information collected by DCIP.
When paramedics brought Bashar into the Friendship Medical Center, three Israeli soldiers followed them inside and asked about his condition. One paramedic, fearing arrest, said that Bashar fell from the wall. One soldier replied in English, “We are the ones who shot him,” and left.
Three Israeli military vehicles carrying around 15 soldiers entered Beit Furik around midnight on February 29, leading to confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli forces.
103 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 dubbed Operation Iron Swords.
Israeli forces and settlers have killed 22 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank in 2024, including two United States citizens, according to documentation collected by DCIP.
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.
