Rights and Accountability 18 February 2022
Mourners carry the body of 16-year-old Muhammad Abu Salah during funeral processions in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on 14 February 2022.
APA imagesIsraeli forces shot and killed Nihad al-Barghouti, 19, in Nabi Saleh village on Tuesday, two days after killing another teen elsewhere in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli soldiers invaded Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah, during a protest, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights.
The rights group said that soldiers fired rubber-coated and live bullets at protesters who threw stones and empty bottles at them.
The group added that there was no imminent threat to soldiers when they shot al-Barghouti in the waist.
Palestinian outlets circulated a photo of al-Barghouti following his death:
A funeral was held for al-Barghouti in Nabi Saleh on Wednesday:
First child killed in 2022
On Sunday, an Israeli sniper shot Muhammad Akram Abu Salah in the eye, killing him, in Silat al-Harithiya village near Jenin.
Abu Salah is the first child killed by Israel so far this year and the fourth Palestinian to die after being hit by Israeli fire.Palestinians held a funeral procession for Abu Salah on Monday:
Ayed Abu Eqtaish, a program director with Defense for Children International-Palestine, condemned the “systemic impunity” with which “Israeli forces can kill Palestinian children without fear of any consequences.”The UN children’s agency UNICEF stated that “all children have the right life, to survive, and to grow up without fear” following the child’s killing.
Israel killed 86 Palestinian children in the West Bank and Gaza in 2021, making it the deadliest year for Palestinian children since 2014, when Israel launched a 51-day offensive in Gaza.
Abu Salah was killed while Israeli troops invaded Silat al-Harithiya to demolish the home of a Palestinian prisoner accused of involvement in the killing of an Israeli in December.
Such punitive home demolitions are a form of collective punishment – a war crime against Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation.
An armed Palestinian fired on Israeli troops during the raid and fled, according to Defense for Children International-Palestine.
“Israeli forces responded with heavy shooting at those present in the area,” the children’s rights group added.
“A short while later, after confrontations between Israeli forces and Palestinian protesters had abated, Mohammad and his 17-year-old cousin arrived at the scene,” according to Defense for Children International-Palestine.
“Israeli forces suddenly and without warning began firing live ammunition at protesters who began to flee,” an eyewitness told the rights group.
An Israeli sniper shot Abu Saleh while he was running away. The child’s cousin was shot in the hand when he attempted to come to his aid.
