Ramallah, November 10, 2025—Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinian boys in Jerusalem.
Mohammad Rashad Fadel Qasim, 16, and Mohammad Abdullah Mohammad Etayem, 16, were shot by Israeli forces around 4 p.m. on November 6 near the Al-Judeira playground close to the separation wall erected on the lands of the Palestinian town of Al-Judeira, northwest of Jerusalem, in the central occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International - Palestine. The children were allegedly throwing Molotov cocktails toward the separation wall when they were targeted with around 50 bullets, according to the families of the children.
The Israeli forces detained the boys while wounded, according to information from the Palestinian Prisoners Club delivered to their families. The families of the children were informed by the Palestinian Liaison Office on November 7, that their children had been killed and that their bodies were being withheld by the Israeli forces.
As Israeli authorities have confiscated the bodies of the boys, DCIP is not able to verify the location or number of bullet wounds that both of them sustained.
“Israeli forces routinely unlawfully kill Palestinian children with impunity, using intentional lethal force against Palestinian children when not justified,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “If a child is suspected of committing a criminal act, they should be apprehended in accordance with international standards and afforded due process of law, not executed on the spot after they no longer pose any threat.”
According to a circulated black-and-white video, Israeli media said the two boys, Mohammad Qasim and Mohammad Etayem, were shot because they allegedly threw Molotov cocktails behind the separation wall. However, the footage shows Israeli soldiers opened fire intensely and deliberately at the boys while they were turned away and not posing an immediate threat, indicating the force used was lethal rather than intended to detain them.
Israeli forces and settlers have killed 46 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank in 2025, according to documentation collected by DCIP.
Israeli forces have withheld the bodies of at least 56 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 50 Palestinian children’s bodies remain withheld by Israeli authorities. Israel’s practice of withholding Palestinian bodies is a form of collective punishment, a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, and deprives Palestinian families of the ability to lay their children to rest.
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.
