EU alarmed by Israel’s killing of two Palestinian children in occupied West Bank
Brussels (QNN)- The European Union expressed on Friday alarm at Israel’s killing of two Palestinian children in two separate incidents in the occupied West Bank cities of Nablus and Hebron last week.
The EU Delegation to the Palestinians wrote in a tweet that it is “alarmed” by Israel’s shooting death of two 16-year-old Palestinian boys in Nablus and Hebron, stressing that “under intl law, use of force must be proportionate and applied as last resort to protect life. The killings should be immediately investigated and those responsible held accountable.”
The EU Delegation added,” Children enjoy special protection under IHL. Israel, as a state party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, has an obligation to uphold its commitments to the human rights of children, incl. right to life.”
1/2 Alarmed by both 16 y/o children, Hussein Taha in Nablus & Momen Jaber in Hebron, shot dead by ISF. Under intl law, use of force must be proportionate & applied as last resort to protect life. The killings should be immediately investigated & those responsible held accountable
— EU and Palestinians (@EUpalestinians) August 12, 2022
On August 9, 2022, Israeli occupation forces shot Hussein Jamal Hussein Taha, 16, in the lower abdomen with live ammunition around 8:30 a.m. as the Israeli military stormed the old city in Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank. Hussein was on his way to shop for groceries with his father and 13-year-old brother when an Israeli soldier shot him in the abdomen near confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli forces. Hussein was transferred to Rafidia Hospital and underwent surgery for about an hour and 15 minutes before doctors pronounced him dead. During the deadly raid, Israeli forces also assassinated two Palestinian resistance fighters.
Later in the day, Momen Yasin Mohammad Joude Jaber, 16, was shot in the chest with live ammunition by Israeli forces around 3 p.m. in the Bab Al-Zawiya area of Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank. He was first transferred to Aley Hospital, then resuscitated and transferred to Al-Ahly Hospital in Hebron, where he underwent surgery to treat his wounds. Momen was pronounced dead around 5 p.m. A large number of Israeli soldiers were deployed across Hebron, including snipers positioned on building rooftops, as Palestinians demonstrated in protest of the Israeli military incursion into Nablus earlier that day. Momen was shot with a single bullet in the chest, injuring his heart and lungs, which led to cardiac arrest.
At least 40 Palestinian children have been killed in 2022, including 20 Palestinian children shot and killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Between August 5-7, the Israeli military launched an offensive on the Gaza Strip which resulted in the killing of 17 Palestinian children so far.
In 2021 alone, 86 Palestinian children were killed in the Occupied Palestinian Territory by Israeli occupation, including 69 Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip, making 2021 the deadliest year on record for Palestinian children since 2014.
During its 11-day aggression on the Gaza Strip in May 2021, Israeli occupation forces killed 60 Palestinian children using tank-fired shells, live ammunition, and missiles dropped from weaponized drones and U.S.-sourced warplanes and Apache helicopters.
The most recent spike in child killings occurred in 2018 when Israeli forces and settlers killed Palestinian children at an average pace exceeding one child per week. That year, 57 Palestinian children were killed by Israeli forces and settlers. The majority of those killings occurred during the March of Return protests in the Gaza Strip, according to documentation gathered by Defense for Children International – Palestine.
Since 2000, over 2,198 Palestinian children have been killed as a result of Israeli military and settler presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, according to DCIP’s documentation.
