Israeli settler kills Palestinian teenager in West Bank

Muheeb Ahmed Jibril, 16, was shot dead by an Israeli settler in the town of Tuqu’, southeast of Bethlehem, in the Occupied West Bank, as reported by the Middle East Eye via Wafa news agency on December 16th.

According to Muhammad al-Badan, the mayor of Tuqu’, the killing occurred shortly after mourners dispersed following the funeral of Ammar Sabah, another 16-year-old Palestinian who has been killed.

The 16-year-old was with a small group of young men who remained near the town’s northern entrance when an Israeli settler exited his vehicle and shot at the group, killing Jibril.

However, this is not the first time that a child was killed in the West Bank, as 13-year-old Aysam Mualla died in November from injuries sustained when Israeli soldiers fired tear gas at olive harvesters in the Jabal Qamas area of ​​Beita.

On November 13th, two children, named by local media as Mohammed Abu Ayyash and Bilal Baha’a Bouran, were shot dead by Israeli forces in Beit Amr, north of Hebron.

Additionally, Israeli forces killed two youths in a raid in Jenin on November 29th, 2023; the victims were 9-year-old Adam Samer Al-Ghoul and 15-year-old Basil Suleiman Abu Al-Wafa.

Concerns have been expressed by B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, that Israeli settlers responsible for the deaths of Palestinians in the West Bank frequently go unpunished.

Reportedly, over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since October 2023, with roughly 217 of the dead being minors.

Israeli authorities have been accused of failing to protect Palestinians from settler attacks, with some government officials actively enabling settlers, such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, whose department illegally distributed weapons licences to settlers.

A report from the Palestinian Authority’s Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission found that Israelis conducted more than 2,000 attacks in the West Bank in October alone. According to the report, Israeli forces were responsible for 1,584 of the 2,350 total attacks recorded by the commission.

Throughout the West Bank and Occupied East Jerusalem, an estimated 700,000 Israeli settlers reside in settlements, with new outposts being established on a fairly regular basis.

The number of settlers is expected to increase due to the Israeli government’s apparent plans to annex 82% of the West Bank and build 3,400 housing units for settlers as part of the E1 settlement expansion project.

Middle East Eye via Wafa, Maghrebi.org