Ramallah, October 8, 2024—Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian boy near Jerusalem yesterday morning.
Hatem Sami Hisham Ghaith, 13, was shot and killed by Israeli forces around 11 a.m. on October 7 in the village of Kafr Aqab, north of Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International - Palestine. Hatem was on his way home from school and watched confrontations between Israeli forces and Palestinian youth that began around 6 a.m. when Israeli forces entered nearby Qalandia refugee camp to arrest young Palestinians. Israeli forces opened fire toward a group of young Palestinians, and Hatem was struck by a bullet in the stomach from a distance of about 30 to 50 meters (98 to 164 feet). A private car transferred Hatem to Ramallah Governmental Hospital, where doctors attempted to resuscitate him but pronounced him dead around 12:15 p.m.
“Hatem was killed when Israeli forces opened fire indiscriminately toward young Palestinians, displaying blatant contempt for Palestinian life,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “Israeli soldiers enjoy complete impunity and world leaders must take urgent action to protect Palestinian children’s lives.”
The bullet that struck Hatem was likely an expanding bullet, according to documentation collected by DCIP. These bullets used by Israeli forces are designed to expand inside the body upon impact, causing massive internal injuries. Customary international law prohibits the use of expanding bullets, or any bullets that expand or flatten easily in the human body, though DCIP regularly documents fatalities and injuries seemingly as a result of expanding bullets, also known as dumdum bullets.
Israeli forces and settlers have killed 84 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank in 2024, including two United States citizens, according to documentation collected by DCIP.
165 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.