A 12-year-old Palestinian boy succumbed to his wounds on Monday, nearly two weeks after he was shot by Israeli army forces in the northern occupied West Bank city of Jenin.
Mahmoud Mohammad Khalil Samoudi, 12, was shot in the abdomen on September 28th during an Israeli army incursion on the Jenin Refugee Camp. According to Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP), at around 10am on September 28th, Samoudi joined a group of boys and youth who were throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at Israeli army vehicles in the al-Zahra neighborhood next to the camp.
DCIP said the vehicles were around 150 meters (492 feet) away from the boys. Samoudi allegedly threw a few stones at the military vehicles when Israeli forces fired several shots towards the boys.
Samoudi was struck in the abdomen, with the bullet exiting through his right side, causing “severe bleeding and damage to his colon, kidneys, and bladder,” DCIP said.
After undergoing surgery in a hospital in Jenin, Samoudi was transferred to the ICU in a Ramallah hospital, where he stayed for five days before succumbing to his wounds.
He was the 44th Palestinian child to be killed this year according to DCIP, 27 of whom were killed by Israeli military ans settler violence in the West Bank.
“Palestinian children live in a hyper-militarized context where Israeli military incursions into Palestinian communities to arrest and intimidate Palestinian civilians is the norm,” Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP, said in a statement on Samoudi’s death.
“During these incursions, Israeli forces routinely resort to intentional lethal force in situations not justified under international law and make no effort to impartially investigate or ensure that Israeli soldiers act in accordance with international standards. Instead, all Palestinians, including children, are considered targets.”
Samoudi’s death comes amidst heightened escalations in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, as Israeli forces continue to crack down on Palestinian armed resistance fighters, conducting near nightly, deadly raids into Palestinian towns, cities, and refugee camps.
Two Israeli soldiers were killed in separate shootings carried out by Palestinian fighters in the Nablus area of the West Bank, and at a military checkpoint outside the Shu’fat Refugee Camp in occupied East Jerusalem. Israeli forces have since enforced widespread closures in the Nablus area, and a total blockade of the Shu’fat Refugee Camp amid the manhunt for the shooters, in what’s being criticized as collective punishment and “revenge.”
Last week, two Palestinian boys, ages 17 and 14, were killed by Israeli forces in two separate incidents in Ramallah and Qalqiliya in the West Bank.
On Wednesday the Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed that 18-year-old Mahmoud Adawi was killed after he was struck with live ammunition by Israeli forces during confrontations in the Al-Arroub Refugee Camp in the Hebron district of the southern West Bank.
Palestinian media reported that a Palestinian infant died in the Anata town, which borders the Shu’fat refugee camp, after suffering from tear gas suffocation during the Israeli crackdown on the area. These reports remained unconfirmed by the Palestinian Ministry of Health or Palestinian authorities.
