'Israel' killed 16 children in West Bank in 2025: NGO
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A director from Defense for Children International emphasizes that the lack of accountability for Israeli soldiers' actions has emboldened them to continue the killing of Palestinian children in the West Bank.
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Palestinian mother of 11-year-old child Amr al-Najjar, shot in the head by the IOF, weeps during his funeral in the West Bank village of Burin, near Nablus, on Tuesday, March 5, 2024. (AP)
Since the start of 2025, the Israeli military has killed 16 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, despite the fact that the children “posed no real threat to the soldiers,” Anadolu Agency reported, citing an international human rights organization.
Ayed Abu Eqtaish, the accountability program director of Defense for Children International, stated that the lack of accountability for Israeli soldiers’ actions against Palestinians has effectively given them “the green light to continue their actions.”
He noted a troubling trend, saying, “There is a growing ease with which Israeli soldiers open fire on Palestinian children, leading to an increase in the number of those killed or injured.” He referenced the case of 13-year-old Ayman al-Haimouni, who was shot and killed on February 21 in al-Khalil, southern West Bank.
Abu Eqtaish emphasized that “the child posed no threat to the soldiers at the moment he was shot and killed.”
He also condemned Israeli soldiers for “repeatedly and deliberately obstructing ambulances carrying the wounded in recent incidents” and for assaulting the families of the injured. He described these actions as having “turned into a systematic military practice.”
Israeli Army extends Gaza rules of engagement to West Bank
On February 10, Israeli daily Haaretz reported that the Israeli army had expanded its rules of engagement in the West Bank, leading to an increase in Palestinian civilian deaths. According to the report, the Israeli army's Central Command decided to apply the same rules of engagement used in Gaza to the West Bank. This change allows Israeli soldiers to kill unarmed Palestinians, regardless of suspicion.
The report revealed that “the orders made it easier for soldiers to pull the trigger at the behest of Central Command Commander Avi Blot.”
Some soldiers involved in the operations explained that Blot’s orders allowed them to shoot to kill, rather than arrest, any Palestinians suspected of planting explosives or “tampering with the land.”
Since January 21, Israeli forces have been conducting operations in the northern West Bank, resulting in the deaths of at least 64 people and the displacement of thousands.
Palestinian officials have warned that the ongoing military offensive is part of a larger strategy by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to usurp more land in the occupied West Bank, which could signal the end of the "two-state" solution.
This escalation in the occupied West Bank comes after the Israeli war on Gaza, which has resulted in at least 927 Palestinian killings and nearly 7,000 injuries, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
The International Court of Justice ruled in July that the Israeli prolonged occupation of Palestinian territories is “unlawful” and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and the eastern part of al-Quds.
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