The Palestinian child killed in Nablus on Wednesday
Dear John —
On Wednesday morning, in broad daylight, at least 150 Israeli soldiers in armored military vehicles entered the old city of Nablus, a Palestinian city in the northern occupied West Bank. During the Israeli military incursion, 11 Palestinians, including 16-year-old Mohammad Farid Mohammad Haj Ahmad, were shot and killed, and more than 80 others were injured with live ammunition.
Mohammad sustained a gunshot wound below his right ear from about three meters (10 feet) away as he stood in front of a clinic entrance near the roadside as Israeli forces drove past. An older man and two young men were also struck with live fire.
Video of the incident shows that Israeli forces fired upon Mohammad as he stood with several other Palestinian civilians in front of Al-Rahma clinic on Al-Huriya street in Nablus as a Palestinian man armed with a handgun fled in their direction after firing on the Israeli military vehicle convoy as Israeli forces were withdrawing from Nablus. No Israeli soldiers are seen deployed outside of the heavily-armored Israeli military vehicles.
Read our reporting on yesterday’s Israeli military incursion into Nablus »
While many Israeli military incursions into Palestinian communities occur under the cover of night, this time, Israeli forces brazenly entered Nablus’ crowded town center at a time when many Palestinians were on their way to work, school, or the market. It is clear that the Israeli military feels confident in their ability to shoot and kill Palestinians, including children, with complete impunity.
This is the third major Israeli military incursion into a Palestinian city this year—first Jenin, then Jericho, and now Nablus, representing a sharp escalation in Israeli forces’ efforts to maintain a hyper-militarized and unsafe environment for Palestinian children.
Please share Mohammad’s story on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and demand your elected officials speak out to protect Palestinian children.
In solidarity,
Ayed Abu Eqtaish
Accountability Program Director
Defense for Children International – Palestine
