- 'Israeli soldiers not only shoot at children, but also prevent ambulances or their families from reaching them to provide necessary medical assistance'
Israel has killed 244 children in the occupied West Bank since October 2023, with a lack of accountability giving Israeli soldiers a "green light" to continue their violations, Palestinian human rights activist Ayed Abu Qtaish told Anadolu.
On May 13, UNICEF spokesperson James Elder stated that "children are paying an unbearable price as a result of the escalating military operations and occupiers' attacks across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem."
Elder noted that from January 2025 till May 13, one Palestinian child was killed every week, explaining that 70 Palestinian children were killed during this period, and that 93% of them were killed by Israeli forces.
Green light to kill children
Abu Qtaish said: "The number of Palestinian children killed by Israel in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since October 2023 has reached 244."
Between October 2023 and the end of the same year, Israel killed 81 Palestinian children in the West Bank, "which means that one child was killed every day," he added.
Whereas during 2024, Israel killed 93 Palestinian children in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, an average of one child every four days, he said.
He noted that 70 Palestinian children have been killed since the beginning of 2025, an average of one child per week.
The human rights activist lamented that these violations show "a lack of accountability for Israeli soldiers involved in the killing of Palestinian children," adding: "This lack of accountability gives them a green light to continue killing children."
He also pointed out that "Israeli soldiers not only shoot at children, but also prevent ambulances or their families from reaching them to provide necessary medical assistance."
"These violations show that the aim of Israeli shooting is to kill, even though the circumstances do not warrant the use of live ammunition, as the child poses no threat to Israeli forces," Abu Qtaish said.
Lack of investigation
Regarding the Israeli authorities' stance on the escalating killings of Palestinian children, Abu Qtaish stated that Tel Aviv "does not conduct serious investigations into the circumstances of these killings."
He added: “Even in the rare cases where an investigation is opened, no soldier is ever convicted for these crimes.”
The issue "is not about individual soldiers disobeying orders, but rather about the very standards and instructions for opening fire," he said.
Abu Qtaish continued: “Soldiers have become emboldened to shoot Palestinian children due to the lack of accountability, especially when the victim is a Palestinian child.”
Children's perilous journey to schools
The human rights activist warned that "Israel is violating the rights stipulated in international agreements, particularly children’s rights, foremost among them the right to education."
He described the journey of Palestinian children to their schools as "a perilous journey," explaining that "in many cases, schools are attacked by the Israeli army or occupiers."
Schools in the West Bank have previously been attacked by Israeli occupiers, preventing students from receiving their education.
Last April, an attack by occupiers on the village of Umm al-Khair in the Hebron governorate of the southern West Bank resulted in the closure of a road, preventing Palestinian children from reaching their schools on the first day of classes after a nearly 40-day hiatus, thus violating their right to education.
Abu Qtaish also pointed out that Palestinian children are often arrested by Israeli forces and "subjected to various forms of torture and ill-treatment during interrogation."
He said: "The most prominent feature of the arbitrary arrest of Palestinian children is the issuance of administrative detention orders against them, meaning their detention without charge."
"The number of children held in administrative detention constitutes more than half of all detained children," Abu Qtaish said.
Since the start of the genocide in the Gaza Strip in October 2023, Israeli forces and occupiers have intensified operations across the West Bank, killing at least 1,155 Palestinians, wounding 11,750 others and arresting nearly 22,000, according to Palestinian figures.
*Writing by Rasa Evrensel in Istanbul
