Israeli army kills two Palestinian children in occupied West Bank

Ayman and Rimas were both ‘targeted’ with ‘lethal force by Israeli soldiers’, said a child rights organisation.

Two Palestinian children were shot in the back and killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank.

Ayman Nasser al-Haymouny, 12, was killed in Hebron while 13-year-old Rimas al-Amouri was shot in the Jenin governorate, the Palestinian Ministry of Health and the Wafa news agency confirmed.

Israeli forces opened fire on al-Haymouny and shot him when he was visiting relatives south of Hebron. He was rushed to hospital where he died from his injuries.

Al-Amouri was shot in the abdomen and taken to Jenin Government Hospital where she was pronounced dead shortly afterwards.

She was shot while standing in the courtyard of her family home in the Jenin area on Friday afternoon, Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP) said.

An Israeli soldier in an armoured car, stationed approximately 50 metres (164 feet) from al-Amouri, fired at least five bullets into the courtyard where she was standing, hitting her in the back, DCIP said.

“Both Ayman and Rimas were targeted suddenly and without warning in the back with lethal force by Israeli soldiers safely positioned inside armoured vehicles,” DCIP’s Ayed Abu Eqtaish said.

Overnight, the Israeli military also conducted raids in the Kafr Aqab neighbourhood near occupied East Jerusalem, as well as across Nablus, in the Am’ari refugee camp north of el-Bireh city, and in Jericho, Bethlehem and the Deir Ammar refugee camp west of Ramallah, local sources including Wafa reported.

A Palestinian man was taken by Israeli forces from the town of Zawata, west of Nablus city. In Jenin, where deadly Israeli raids have been ongoing for more than a month, the Israeli army pulled a man from his car and arrested him.

The home of a Palestinian due to be released as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal on Saturday was also raided in Birzeit, north of Ramallah.

‘Genocidal intent’

The homes of detained Palestinians in the Jalazone refugee camp were also raided and a detainee’s son was arrested.

Israeli plans to intensify military operations in Tulkarem and surrounding refugee camps in the occupied West Bank are evidence of “genocidal intent”, the region’s governor, Abdullah Kmeil, said.

It has inflicted severe damage on water and sanitation infrastructure for Palestinian communities, according to a report from the UN’s humanitarian office (OCHA).

However, since the UN’s reporting period ended on Monday, several more Palestinians have been killed, including the two children on Friday night.

OCHA also counted 34 incidents of Israeli settler violence towards Palestinians in its latest report.