Ramallah, February 10, 2026—Israeli forces shot and killed a 17-year-old Palestinian boy in the southern occupied West Bank at the end of January.
Mohammad Rajeh Muslam Nasrallah, 17, was shot by Israeli soldiers around 8 p.m. on January 27 in Al-Dhahiriya, a Palestinian town south of Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International - Palestine. Mohammad was returning home on foot on a dirt path with his adult relative and climbed over a stone wall in order to cross the paved road and finish the journey home. Mohammad could not see the road over the stone wall, and so did not know that Israeli soldiers were nearby. Once he reached the top of the wall, Israeli soldiers shot Mohammad from a distance of about eight meters (26 feet), striking him in the abdomen and causing him to fall backwards. Mohammad’s relative caught him and was struck by two subsequent bullets fired by the soldiers. The relative managed to escape to safety, and Israeli soldiers surrounded Mohammad’s body, dragged him to the road, and prevented an ambulance from providing first aid for at least 15 minutes. Eventually, Mohammad was brought to Al-Hikma clinic in Al-Dhahiriya, then transferred to Dura Governmental Hospital, where he was pronounced dead around midnight.
Mohammad sustained one gunshot wound to the abdomen, which caused severe internal bleeding, according to information collected by DCIP.
Mohammad is the second Palestinian child killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank in 2026, according to documentation collected by DCIP. Israeli forces and settlers killed 56 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank in 2025.
Decades of systemic impunity has created a situation where Israeli forces shoot to kill without limit. As Palestinian children are increasingly targets in the West Bank, Israeli forces’ rules of engagement seemingly allow direct targeting of Palestinian children where no threat exists to justify the use of intentional lethal force.
