The last conversation Nassar al-Hammouni had with his 12-year-old son, Ayman, was over the phone. Ayman eagerly shared his plans for the weekend and his bright future. He had joined a local football team and was excited to register for a karate club. With big dreams of becoming a doctor or perhaps an engineer, Ayman hoped to one day join his father in his construction work.

Tragically, none of these dreams would come true. Just two days after that conversation, Ayman was killed by Israeli gunfire. The harrowing footage, obtained and shared by The Guardian, captures the cold-blooded moment of his brutal killing by the Israeli occupation forces. It serves as a chilling reminder of the ongoing Israeli genocide in Palestine that continues to claim the innocent lives of young Palestinian children.

Heartbreaking surge: Two Palestinian children killed weekly by IOF in the West Bank

The Israeli killing of Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank has become increasingly commonplace, particularly after October 7, 2023, and the outset of the brutal Israeli war on Gaza. This intensity has only increased since the ceasefire in Gaza in January 2024.

This year, about two children per week have been killed, surpassing the yearly average rate of 93 child killings in 2024. Human rights groups fear these numbers will keep rising as the Israeli military adopts tactics from Gaza in the West Bank, forcibly displacing tens of thousands of Palestinians, demolishing entire neighborhoods, and loosening "rules of engagement" for soldiers, which now allow them to open fire more freely. This shift has led to the term “Gazafication,” signaling a new norm.

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Security camera footage documents the Israeli killing of Ayman

What makes Ayman's killing stand out is the clarity of the evidence, particularly the security camera footage documenting the events of that tragic night. Ayman and his 10-year-old brother, Aysar, had been visiting relatives in Jabal Jawhar, al-Khalil, a Palestinian-controlled area under frequent Israeli military presence. At around 6:30 pm, after running an errand for his grandfather's flat, Ayman returned to his uncle Tariq’s house when gunshots rang out from a nearby alley.

The footage captures Ayman with his cousins and uncle at the scene of the shooting, moments before a second shot is heard, causing Ayman and the others to flee inside the house. Amid the commotion, a third shot rings out from down the alleyway from the direction of the Israeli soldiers. This was the bullet that is believed to have hit Ayman.

The video then shows chaos as soldiers approach the house, with one of Ayman’s relatives seeing him lying lifeless near the front gate. His uncle, Nadeem, rushed to carry him but quickly realized Ayman was already gone.

The situation only worsened as Ayman’s family attempted to take him to a hospital, but by then it was too late. Reports from an advocacy group, Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP), confirmed that Ayman was shot in the back, the bullet lodging in his lungs.

'We hope that you will follow your son'

Ayman’s father, Nassar, who was working in Ramallah, was informed of the shooting and rushed back home. He recalled that during his journey, an Arabic-speaking Israeli soldier taunted him, confessing that he intentionally shot his 12-year-old child, saying, “Convince me that I shot him for nothing. We hope that you will follow your son.”

In past cases, investigations were often initiated under public pressure, though they rarely lead to meaningful action. An Israeli human rights group, Yesh Din, reports that the likelihood of a soldier being prosecuted for killing Palestinians is only 0.4%.

Aysar, Ayman’s younger brother, has struggled to return to school, finding it unbearable to face his brother’s empty classroom. Nassar reflected on the deep impact of his child's killing: “It is about rage and revenge. They don’t care if it’s a child, or a woman, or an old person. No one’s safe anymore.”