Israeli Occupation Forces Kill 2 Children in Refugee Camp Raid

Israeli troops shot and killed two Palestinian children during a Wednesday morning raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the illegally occupied West Bank, where more than 240 people have been killed by occupation soldiers and Jewish settler-colonists since early October.

Fifteen-year-old Basil Suleiman Abu al-Wafa and Adam Samer al-Ghoul, who was either 8 or 9, were shot dead by Israel Defense Force (IDF) troops during the raid, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

According to Al Jazeera, al-Wafa was shot in the chest and died in a hospital, while al-Ghoul was shot in the head. Graphic CCTV footage posted on social media shows al-Ghoul trying to run away as he is gunned down. Another boy is seen dragging him away, with blood trailing behind the victim's body.

"Palestinian children in Jenin have been a routine target for the Israeli military."

The children were shot as IDF troops forced residents of the ad-Damj neighborhood from their homes at gunpoint before destroying streets there and bombing at least one home with an armed drone.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said Israeli forces subsequently prevented paramedics from reaching Palestinians wounded during the raid.

"Unarmed and running away," Husam Zumlot, Palestine's ambassador to the United Kingdom, wrote on social media. "But Israeli soldiers still killed this child in Jenin today in the same indiscriminate manner that they have been killing thousands of children in Gaza."

Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at the advocacy group Defense of Children International-Palestine (DCIP), noted in a statement that "Palestinian children in Jenin have been a routine target for the Israeli military."

"It is shocking that Israeli forces, sitting in an armored vehicle, can fatally shoot two children in broad daylight and the international community will refuse to hold them accountable," Abu Eqtaish added.

An IDF spokesperson said Israeli troops opened fire with live rounds after "explosives" were thrown at them. Al-Ghoul can be seen in CCTV footage holding a very small object, which he drops after being shot.

Two Palestinian men—Muhammad Jamal Zubaidi and Wissam Ziad Hanoun—were also killed during the Jenin raid. Palestine's WAFA News Agencyreported that occupation forces took their bodies.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said at least 242 Palestinians, including more than 50 children, have been killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since October 7, when Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel left approximately 1,200 Israeli civilians and soldiers dead and around 240 others kidnapped. Over 2,750 other Palestinians have been injured.

Israeli forces have killed more than 100 Palestinian children in the West Bank and East Jerusalem so far this year, according to DCIP, making 2023 the deadliest year ever recorded.

Occupation forces have also arrested more than 3,300 Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including 35 people—one of them a 12-year-old child—since Tuesday. Israeli authorities have arrested nearly as many Palestinians during the six-day cease-fire with Hamas as they have freed during the concurrent prisoner exchanges.

Meanwhile in Gaza, officials reported that 160 Palestinian bodies were recovered from the rubble on Tuesday and Wednesday during the relative calm of the cease-fire. Gaza civil defense officials said at least 7,000 bodies remain buried under the bombed-out buildings.

More than 15,000 Palestinians—including over 4,000 women and 6,100 children—have been killed by Israeli bombs and bullets since October 7.

Gaza and United Nations officials also said Wednesday that more than 80% of Gazans—or around 1.8 million people—have been forcibly displaced by the Israeli onslaught, which has destroyed or damaged more than 300,000 homes.