Palestinian officials say Israeli forces killed 14-year-old boy in West Bank
The Palestinian health ministry said Moataz Daghlas was killed during an Israeli operation in Burqa, while the military said soldiers fired at people they believed intended to throw stones.
By Hiroshi Ferrari ·
A 14-year-old Palestinian boy was shot dead by Israeli forces during an operation in the occupied West Bank on Monday evening, Palestinian officials said. The Palestinian health ministry identified him as Moataz Daghlas and said he was killed in Burqa, a village north-west of Nablus.
The Israeli military said its soldiers had spotted several people it described as terrorists who intended to throw stones. It said the encounter took place in an area where Israeli vehicles had previously been targeted with stones. Soldiers opened fire, the military said, “to remove the threat”.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said its teams provided treatment to two people suffering from gunshot wounds during the operation. According to the organisation, Israeli forces prevented the teams from reaching a third wounded person and detained three volunteer paramedics.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that the two wounded Palestinians were a 17-year-old child and a 19-year-old man. The younger casualty had been shot in the abdomen and pelvis, it said, while the older one suffered a gunshot wound to the hand. Relatives of Daghlas said Israeli authorities were withholding his body.
United Nations figures show that at least 98 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. That figure includes 22 children. Over the same period, Palestinians have killed six Israelis in the territory, including members of the security forces and civilians, according to the UN.
Israeli forces' rules of engagement were reportedly expanded following the deadly Hamas-led attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023. The changes gave soldiers greater discretion to use lethal force when they perceived a threat.
In June, the UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory said it had verified that Israeli security forces and settlers had killed 241 Palestinian children in the West Bank since those attacks.
The office found that the children killed were mostly teenage boys. In many cases, it said, Israeli authorities cited allegations of stone-throwing to justify the killings.
Its assessment was that none of the children killed during confrontations with Israeli forces had presented an imminent threat to life. The office said such a threat was the sole legal basis for using lethal force in the West Bank under international law.
