Why do Israeli soldiers kill so many children in the West Bank? Because they want to, and can
Mourners carry the body of a 13-year-old child killed in an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank village of Deir Abu Mashal, during his funeral in Ramallah on 9 July 2024
Miranda Cleland writes in Middle East Eye on 10 September 2024:
Israel’s genocide in Gaza, now approaching the one-year mark, has laid the groundwork for its military to use the same tactics in the occupied West Bank.
Late last month, Israeli forces launched the largest ground invasion of the occupied West Bank in decades, targeting northern refugee camps while continuing daily incursions into Palestinian communities.
In both Gaza and the occupied West Bank, Palestinian children are bearing the brunt of Israel’s brutality.
Twenty percent of all Palestinian children killed in the West Bank since 2000 have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers since 7 October 2023, at a rate of one child every two days, according to a new report released by Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP), where I work as an advocacy officer.
The report, entitled “Targeting Childhood: Palestinian children killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank”, documents and analyses 141 cases of Palestinian children killed between 7 October 2023 and 31 July 2024.
I either wrote or edited every child fatality case in this report. As we collectively investigated all these incidents, it became clear that Israeli forces were deliberately targeting Palestinian children, with the intent to unleash cruel and degrading treatment up until the moment of the child’s death.
Since 7 October, Israeli forces and settlers have shot and killed 116 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank with live ammunition. Ninety percent of them were shot in the head, torso or multiple areas, clearly demonstrating an intent to kill.
Blocking medical aid
Twenty-five Palestinian children were killed in Israeli aerial attacks in densely populated civilian areas. The Israeli military began using aerial attacks in the occupied West Bank over the summer for the first time since the Second Intifada in the early 2000s.
Some children were directly targeted by Israeli drone-fired missiles or other aerial weapons, while others were simply bystanders.
We are publishing this report as the Israeli military carries out its largest incursion into the occupied West Bank in decades. Like countless operations before, the Israeli military’s first targets were children: an Israeli drone-fired missile struck the Na’ja brothers, 13-year-old Murad and 17-year-old Mohammad, on 28 August in al-Far’a refugee camp, as they sat on the roof of their home. They were killed instantly.
After the Israeli drone strike hit the two boys – along with their father and older brother, who sustained injuries – Israeli forces detained Palestinian ambulances and paramedics attempting to reach them.