Two Palestinian teenagers were killed by Israeli gunfire in the span of just a few days in the occupied West Bank, bringing the death toll of Palestinian youth killed by Israel in 2021 to 77.
Excessive use of force is the norm, and systemic impunity ensures that Palestinian children living under Israeli occupation can be killed at any moment with no recourse or accountability.
On Monday, 17-year-old Yousef Nawaf Mhareb, a resident of the Ramallah-area village of Abwein, succumbed to wounds he had sustained two months prior, when he was shot in the neck by Israeli forces.
According to Arabic media reports, he was shot by Israeli forces during protests in May over Israeli aggression in Sheikh Jarrah and the Al Aqsa Mosque — protests that sparked the “Unity Uprisings” and the latest war in Gaza.
Just a few days prior, Israeli forces shot another 17-year-old Palestinian boy during protests on Friday in the Nabi Saleh village outside of Ramallah.
According to Defense for Children International — Palestine (DCIP), Israeli forces shot Muhammad Munir al-Tamimi with live ammunition in his back.
The hollow point bullet exited through his abdomen, “tearing a large hole and exposing his intestines,” DCIP said, adding that al-Tamimi underwent four hours of surgery before being transferred to the ICU.
Al-Tamimi, a resident of the neighboring town of Deir Nitham, He succumbed to his injuries several hours later, and was pronounced dead at around midnight.
He was reportedly taking part in Friday protests in Nabi Saleh — a weekly occurrence in the village since 2009, after Israeli settlers from the nearby illegal Halamish settlement took control of the village’s water spring.
Israeli forces routinely use lethal force during protests in Nabi Saleh, despite the fact that the protests are largely peaceful.
Al-Tamimi’s mother told AP that Israeli forces shot her son from a “point blank range,” adding that there is a video showing an Israeli soldier opening the door to the military jeep, shooting her son, and leaving.
Israeli forces routinely unlawfully kill Palestinian children with impunity, resorting to intentional lethal force in circumstances not justified by international law,” Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP, said in response to al-Tamimi’s killing.
The killing of al-Tamimi and Mhareb brought the death toll of Palestinian youth killed by Israeli gunfire in the West Bank since January to 11.
Including the 66 children killed during the Israeli attack on Gaza in May, the total number of Palestinian youth killed by Israeli forces so far in 2021 has been 77.
Mondoweiss / ABC Flash Point News 2021.
Murder incorporated doing its job?
Calling themselves peaceful?