The latest killing comes amid a year-long ramp-up in attacks by Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank [Getty]
Israeli forces shot and killed a 14-year-old Palestinian boy in the occupied West Bank town of Halhul on Sunday evening, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
The child, named as Naji Nidal Al-Baba, was killed near the northern entrance of the town, security sources told the agency.
Al-Baba was received by the Red Crescent Society in Hebron.
The latest killing comes amid a year-long ramp-up in attacks by Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank, coinciding with Israel’s war on Gaza.
Last month, the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said at least 165 Palestinian children had been killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank over the past year.
The OHCHR report said 36 were killed by air strikes, while 129 were killed by Israeli live ammunition “mostly in the upper body and head”.
The report cited the recent killing of 11-year-old Abdullah Jamal Hawash, who was shot during an Israeli army raid on Nablus.
The young boy sustained wounds from the Israeli gunfire, before eventually succumbing to his injuries later that day.
OHCHR said the boy did not pose any “realistic threat” to Israeli forces, after videos shared online showed Hawash throwing stones at them during the violent raid.
In Gaza, Israeli forces are estimated to have killed close to 17,000 children, according to Gaza’s government media office.
