A picture taken through a bullet hole in a window shows a view of Jenin city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on Nov. 18, 2023. (Credit: Fadel Senna/AFP)
An eight-year-old Palestinian boy and a teenager were shot and killed by Israeli forces Wednesday in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, the Palestinian Health Ministry announced.
The health ministry said in a statement that "Adam al-Ghoul, eight years old, and Bassem Abu el-Wafa, 15 years old, were killed by bullets from the occupier."
The Israeli army said troops had "responded with live fire" after explosive devices were hurled at them.
CCTV footage circulating online and on television news shows two children standing in the street. Something causes them to start running away from where they were facing. One child manages to hide behind a parked car. But the other child, later identified as Adam al-Ghoul, is struck as he is running and falls to the ground. A third child emerges from off screen and drags Adam behind another parked car, then tries going out into the street again, facing the direction of the bullets, arms raised, but ducks for cover again immediately. Kneeling over Adam, he tries waving for help from the other direction.
Another video shows a teenager also being hit by a bullet and falling, then appearing to call for help as more shots hit the ground around him and other people run for cover.
The teenager can be seen struggling on the ground in apparent agony for at least half a minute.
An official with the Palestinian Red Crescent told AFP that the boy and the teen had been on a side street of central Jenin's main thoroughfare, an area theoretically off limits to the Israeli military as it is under the sole control of the Palestinian Authority.
Asked about the deaths by AFP, the army said that "a number of suspects" had hurled explosive devices toward troops.
"The soldiers responded with live fire toward the suspects and hits were identified," it said in a statement.
The army also said earlier it had carried out an overnight raid in the Jenin refugee camp in which it "killed two high-ranking terrorists," one of whom was wanted in connection with a pair of attacks that left Israelis dead or injured.
The Red Crescent reported providing aid to six Palestinians wounded by gunfire during that raid.
Since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel and its ensuing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, violence in the West Bank has flared, with nearly 240 Palestinians killed by either soldiers or Israeli settlers, according to the health ministry.
Also on Wednesday, the Israeli army arrested a 12-year-old boy, Karim Ghawanmeh, in the Jalazone refugee camp in the West Bank city of Ramallah, the Palestinian Prisoners' Club advocacy group said.
Karim would become the youngest Palestinian prisoner in Israeli detention, with nearly 200 women and boys, aged 18 or under, released in recent days under an agreement pausing fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Speaking to both AFP and Middle East Eye, Mahmud Ghawanmeh, father of Karim, described the family receiving a phone call at dawn from the army, telling them to hand Karim over immediately.
“When we woke Karim up, he immediately started vomiting out of fear," Karim's brother said. "He still sleeps next to his toys. We are still in great shock"
Mahmud accompanied his son to the detention center, hoping to return with him after an interrogation, but the army held Karim and made his father leave, without giving any reason for Karim's detention.
"I thought I would be with him for his interrogation, but the officer told me to go back home," he said.
The Israeli army declined to comment immediately on the matter.
The health ministry said in a statement that "Adam al-Ghoul, eight years old, and Bassem Abu el-Wafa, 15 years old, were killed by bullets from the occupier."The Israeli army...