Occupied West Bank (QNN)- A 16-year-old Palestinian boy was shot and killed by Israeli forces late last night in Nablus in the occupied West Bank, before confiscating his body. More than 70 Palestinian children have been killed by Israeli forces since the start of 2025, an average of at least one child every week in the occupied West Bank.
Local sources said Fahd Zidan Owais, 16, was shot and killed by Israeli forces in the village of Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya, south of Nablus.
Sources added that Israeli forces confiscated the teenager’s body after preventing Palestine Red Crescent Society crews from reaching him.
On Wednesday, another Palestinian child was also killed during a “coordinated” settler and military attack on the village of Jaljulia, north of Ramallah.
Israeli forces have killed an average of at least one Palestinian child a week in the occupied West Bank since the start of 2025, a Unicef spokesperson said on Tuesday.
James Elder said 70 children had been killed since then, warning they were paying “an intolerable price for escalating militarised operations and settler attacks”.
A further 850 children have been wounded, with most injuries caused by live ammunition.
“All this comes amid historic levels of settler attacks,” Elder said, adding that documented assaults on children included pepper sprayings, beatings, stabbings and shootings.
Children are also increasingly at risk of arrest and detention by Israeli forces. At least 347 Palestinian children are being held in Israeli military detention over alleged security-related offences.
This also comes amid a spike in settler violence against Palestinians.
Israeli settlers and forces are carrying out intensified and increasingly violent attacks in the occupied West Bank with the purpose of forcing Palestinians out of their homes and lands.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, over 1,152 Palestinians, including 239 children, have been killed and more than 11,885 injured in the West Bank since October 7, 2023.
According to OCHA, between 7 October 2023 and 22 April 2026, 1,081 Palestinians – at least 235 of them children – were killed in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Thirty-five of them have been killed since the beginning of 2026.
Israeli organization B’Tselem has accused Israel of actively aiding the settlers’ violence “as part of a strategy to cement the takeover of Palestinian land”.
The UN also warned last year that settler attacks were being carried out “with the acquiescence, support, and in some cases participation, of Israeli security forces”.
