Ramallah, November 28, 2023—Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinian children this morning in the occupied West Bank.
Malek Majed Abdelfattah Daghra, 17, was shot and killed by Israeli forces around 4:15 a.m. today in the Palestinian village of Kafr Ein, northwest of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International - Palestine. Israeli forces entered Kafr Ein earlier that morning to conduct arrest operations. Palestinians confronted Israeli forces, and Israeli forces shot Malek four times in his right and left legs, shoulder, and abdomen, from a distance of about 60 to 80 meters (196 to 262 feet). Malek was transferred to Beit Rima Health Center, then Yasser Arafat Hospital in Salfit, where he was pronounced dead around 4:45 a.m.
Amr Ahmad Jamil Abu Wahdan, 14, was shot in the chest by Israeli forces around 10 a.m. this morning in the Palestinian village of Tayasir, east of Tubas in the northern occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by DCIP. Israeli forces entered Tubas around 6 a.m. to besiege a house and began to withdraw toward Tayasir around 10 a.m. Amr threw stones toward heavily armored Israeli military vehicles withdrawing from Tubas when an Israeli soldier inside a vehicle shot him in the chest from a distance of about 30 meters (98 feet). An ambulance brought Amr to the Turkish Governmental Hospital in Tubas, where doctors performed surgery before pronouncing him dead around 1 p.m.
“Palestinian children continue to bear the brunt of the Israeli military’s shoot-to-kill policy,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “Israeli forces roam the occupied West Bank knowing they can kill any Palestinian with complete impunity, including children."
62 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.
So far this year, Israeli forces and settlers have killed at least 102 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by DCIP. Israeli forces and settlers shot and killed 88 Palestinian children with live ammunition, nine 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.
At least 231 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank since October 7, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
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.
