Israeli soldiers stand while stationed outside a Palestinian shop in Huwara, Israeli-occupied West Bank. (Photo by Reuters)
Ramallah, October 4 (RHC)-- A recent report has revealed that at least 100 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and East al-Quds this year, as tensions rise across the occupied territories in the wake of near-daily Israeli military operations.
The number, compiled by the BBC, reached 100 after the Israeli army killed 17-year-old Palestinian boy Odai Trad Salah during a raid near the northern occupied West Bank city of Jenin. The Palestinian Health Ministry said he was shot in the head on Thursday morning in the village of Kufr Dan on the western outskirts of Jenin. At least three other Palestinians were injured, including one in critical condition.
The death toll means this year is now becoming the deadliest for Palestinians in the West Bank since 2015. The vast majority were shot dead by Israeli forces and several by armed extremist Jewish settlers.
The list of fatalities includes fighters from resistance groups, teenagers and young men shot after reportedly throwing stones, unarmed civilians and bystanders, protesters and anti-settlement activists, and individuals carrying out retaliatory operations.
The oldest victims were two 80-year-old men. One of them, identified as Omar Assad, died from a heart attack after being bound and gagged by troops during a village raid in January. More than half of the 100 fatalities were recorded in Jenin and Nablus or surrounding villages on the northern flank of the West Bank.
Moreover, at least a quarter of the total fatalities across the West Bank occurred when Israeli soldiers used live ammunition to fire at young men or teenagers who purportedly had thrown stones, petrol bombs, or improvised explosives.
According to the figures, 19 Palestinian children have been killed in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Most of the minors were shot dead by Israeli soldiers during military search-and-arrest raids or anti-occupation protests.
Human rights groups say they will seek to add many of this year's cases to a current investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) into possible war crimes by Israel.
The Defense for Children International (DCI) Palestine has stated that the death toll indicates a “complete disregard for international norms” by the Israeli military.
