Ramallah, November 29, 2023—Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinian boys in Jenin today.
Eight-year-old Adam Samer Othman Al-Ghoul and 15-year-old Basel Suleiman Tawfiq Abu Al-Wafa were shot and killed by Israeli forces firing live ammunition from inside a heavily armored Israeli military vehicle around 1 p.m. near the Al-Jalbouni roundabout in the Al-Basateen neighborhood of Jenin, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International - Palestine. Both boys were transferred to Jenin Governmental Hospital where they were pronounced dead on arrival.
“Palestinian children in Jenin have been a routine target for the Israeli military,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “It is shocking that Israeli forces, sitting in an armored vehicle, can fatally shoot two children in broad daylight and the international community will refuse to hold them accountable.”
Adam was shot in the head while Basel was shot in the chest, according to information collected by DCIP. Both boys sustained gunshot wounds from a distance of 10 to 15 meters (33 to 49 feet) away. Basel was allegedly attempting to throw a homemade explosive device at the time Israeli forces shot and killed him.
Israeli forces accompanied by bulldozers entered the Palestinian city of Jenin and Jenin refugee camp around 8 p.m. on November 28. Israeli forces besieged three of Jenin’s major hospitals, and armed Palestinians confronted them. During the Israeli military incursion, Israeli forces killed four Palestinians, including two children, and injured at least six others. The Israeli military incursion lasted until about 1 p.m. on November 29.
64 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 dubbed Operation Iron Swords.
So far this year, Israeli forces and settlers have killed at least 104 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by DCIP. Israeli forces and settlers shot and killed 90 Palestinian children with live ammunition, nine 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.
At least 232 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.
