Ramallah, September 3, 2024—Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinian children in the northern occupied West Bank today during a large-scale military incursion that has been ongoing since August 28.
Mohammad Abdullah Mohammad Kanaan, 14, was shot and killed by an Israeli sniper around 4:40 a.m. today near the southern entrance to Tulkarem refugee camp in Tulkarem city in the northern occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International - Palestine. Around 2:10 p.m. today, in the village of Kafr Dan, located west of Jenin, an Israeli sniper fatally shot 16-year-old Loujain Osama Abdulraouf Mosleh through a window while she was inside her home during an Israeli military incursion into Kafr Dan, according to documentation collected by DCIP.
“Loujain and Mohammad were the Israeli military’s latest targets in the largest military incursion into the occupied West Bank in two decades,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “Israeli snipers routinely target Palestinian children from great distances, even while they stand inside their own homes, striking them with live ammunition in the head or chest with a clear intent to kill.”
Mohammad was visiting his brother with his father when Israeli forces raided Tulkarem refugee camp and city, preventing them from returning to their home in the Al-Hamam neighborhood of Tulkarem camp. Mohammad and his father left heading home after an informal withdrawal of Israeli forces, during which both were targeted by a sniper stationed in a residential building at the entrance of the camp. Mohammad was struck by a bullet in the head from behind from a distance of 250 meters (820 feet) away, while the father was injured in the waist. Mohammad was transferred by ambulance to the Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital in Tulkarem city, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Israeli forces entered Tulkarem city and refugee camp, along with military bulldozers at 4 a.m. on September 2. They patrolled the city streets, surrounded hospitals, and engaged in confrontations with Palestinian residents.
Israeli forces entered the Palestinian village of Kafr Dan, located northwest of Jenin, around 11:30 a.m. today, prompting confrontations between armed Palestinians and Israeli soldiers.
Israeli soldiers surrounded and besieged the home of a wanted Palestinian man, firing live ammunition and shells at the house.
Around 2:10 p.m., 16-year-old Loujain was inside her family’s home, located 50 meters (164 feet) southeast of the besieged home, when an Israeli sniper shot her in the head through a window. Israeli forces blocked an ambulance from accessing Loujain’s home for about 10 minutes, after which an ambulance brought her to Jenin Governmental Hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
Loujain is the third Palestinian girl killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank in 2024, according to documentation collected by DCIP.
A large-scale Israeli military incursion, called "Operation Summer Camps,” launched around 12 a.m. on August 28 and is ongoing in Jenin and Tulkarem cities and refugee camps, 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 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 in Jenin city and camp, which led to the destruction of the main water networks and power outage in several neighborhoods in Jenin and surrounding villages.
Israeli forces besieged several hospitals in Jenin and impeded the movement of ambulances and paramedics. The large-scale incursion in the north West Bank has resulted in the killing of at least 30 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including seven children and many more are injured.
Israeli forces and settlers have killed 75 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank in 2024, including two United States citizens, according to documentation collected by DCIP.
156 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.
