Israeli army kills 14-year-old Palestinian child in Bethlehem: Ministry

AFP , Monday 16 Jan 2023

Israeli forces killed a Palestinian boy Monday near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said, where the army said they allegedly opened fire after people threw Molotov cocktails.

Omar Khmour
Photo of deceased Palestinian child Omar Khmour, 14, who was shot in the head during an Israeli forces raid in the occupied Bethlehem. He is the 4th Palestinian child murdered by Israel since start of 2023. Photo courtesy of @zenatahhan (Twitter)

 

Omar Khmour, 14, was shot in the head early Monday in the Dheisheh refugee camp in the southern West Bank and "succumbed to his wounds", the ministry said.

The Israeli military said Monday that troops opened fire after "suspects (allegedly) hurled rocks, explosive devices and Molotov cocktails at the soldiers."

He is the second boy killed in Dheisheh during an Israeli military incursion so far this month.

One person was arrested by troops in Dheisheh, the Palestinian Prisoners' Club advocacy group said.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said the army had entered the camp "at dawn and launched a campaign of raids on citizens' homes."

Khmour is the 4th Palestinian child (and fourteenth Palestinian) killed in the West Bank at the hands of Israeli forces since the start of the year.

Following a series of fatal attacks targeting Israelis last March and April, Israeli forces launched near-nightly raids in the West Bank in which scores have been killed.

The violence in 2022 made it the deadliest year in the West Bank since United Nations records began in 2005.

At least 26 Israelis and 200 Palestinians were killed across Israel and the Palestinian territories last year, according to AFP figures.

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