Israeli forces kill Palestinian boy in West Bank, health ministry says

A 14-year-old boy was killed and two more teenagers were injured during an Israeli military operation near Nablus in the north of the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials reported on Tuesday. Yahoo reported that the Health Ministry in Ramallah stated it had been informed by Israeli authorities that the boy had been shot dead on Monday evening in the village of Burqa, north-west of Nablus. According to Yahoo, soldiers reportedly searched the village and took away his body. BBC identified the boy as Moataz Daghlas.

According to the Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service, two other teenagers were injured and taken to hospital. BBC reported that the Palestinian Red Crescent stated its teams treated two people with gunshot wounds, but that Israeli forces blocked their access to a third wounded person and detained three volunteer paramedics. The Palestinian news agency Wafa identified the two Palestinians wounded during the raid as a 17-year-old child shot in the abdomen and pelvis, and a 19-year-old man shot in the hand, as reported by BBC.

The Israeli military stated that soldiers had spotted several people on the outskirts of Burqa who were preparing to throw stones at a road used by Israeli vehicles. BBC reported the military stated soldiers identified "several terrorists who intended to hurl stones" in an area where stones had previously been thrown at Israeli vehicles, and that soldiers fired towards them "to remove the threat". Yahoo noted there had recently been repeated incidents of stones being thrown at Israeli cars in the area.

Yahoo reported that Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and has occupied both areas since. More than 700,000 Israeli settlers live there today alongside approximately 3 million Palestinians, according to Yahoo. The situation in the West Bank has deteriorated further since the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in Gaza, Yahoo reported.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, more than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed since then during Israeli military operations, armed clashes, and attacks carried out by Palestinians themselves, Yahoo stated. BBC reported that according to the UN, at least 98 Palestinians, including 22 children, have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank since the start of the year, while six Israelis, both security forces and civilians, have been killed by Palestinians in the West Bank over the same period. BBC reported that the rules of engagement for Israeli forces were reportedly broadened after the deadly Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, allowing soldiers increased discretion to use lethal force against a perceived threat. BBC added that in June, the UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory stated it had verified the killing of 241 Palestinian children by Israeli security forces and settlers in the West Bank since then, noting that most of the children were teenage boys and that Israeli authorities often accused them of stone-throwing as justification.