Ramallah, October 21, 2023—Israeli forces shot and killed a 17-year-old Palestinian boy in the northern occupied West Bank yesterday.
Udai Fawaz Fathi Mansour, 17, was shot in the abdomen by Israeli forces around 3 p.m. on October 20 near the Huwwara Israeli military checkpoint, south of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International - Palestine. Udai was participating in a march in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza when Palestinians confronted Israeli soldiers stationed at the checkpoint. Israeli forces fired live ammunition and tear gas canisters into the crowd, and one Israeli soldier shot Udai in the abdomen from a distance of 150 meters (492 feet). An ambulance transported Udai to the Arab Specialized Hospital in Nablus, where doctors attempted life-saving measures but pronounced him dead four hours later.
“Israeli forces are increasingly and brazenly killing Palestinian children throughout the West Bank,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “At this moment, there is absolutely no check on Israeli aggression as the international community enables war crimes through the provision of weapons and financial and diplomatic support to ensure Israeli forces and officers enjoy impunity regardless of the gravity of crimes.”
Throughout the occupied West Bank, Palestinians have organized marches and demonstrations over the past week in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip bearing the brunt of Israeli land, sea, and air attacks after Palestinian armed groups fired rockets toward Israel and breached the Israeli perimeter fence surrounding Gaza early on October 7, launching attacks inside Israel. Israeli forces initiated a large-scale military operation dubbed Operation Iron Swords.
27 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 bombardment on the Gaza Strip dubbed Operation Iron Swords.
So far this year, Israeli forces and settlers have killed at least 67 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by DCIP. Israeli forces and settlers shot and killed 62 Palestinian children with live ammunition, one Palestinian child was killed in a drone strike, and four Palestinian children were killed by missiles fired from a U.S.-sourced Apache attack helicopter.
At least 82 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.
