Dear John —
11-year-old Safi Ahmad Mohammad Jawabra was walking home to Al-Arroub refugee camp near Hebron from school after his math final exam when Israeli forces shot him in the head with a rubber-coated metal bullet unexpectedly and without warning. Now, his left eye only has 10% of its original function.
DCIP has documented four incidents so far this year where Palestinian children were seriously injured after being shot by Israeli forces with rubber-coated metal bullets. Across the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces employ rubber-coated metal bullets, tear gas canisters, water cannons, sound grenades, and other ‘non-fatal riot dispersal methods’ to quash protests. While Israeli military regulations restrict the parameters and manner of their use, the excessive and improper use of crowd control weapons can cause serious injury, permanent disability or even death, particularly in children.
Israeli military regulations also require that rubber-coated metal bullets only be fired at the legs, not upper bodies, of “inciters, key disrupters of order or individuals endangering the well-being of a soldier or another individual.”
None of the four boys were causing direct threat to injury or life when they were shot, according to documentation collected by DCIP.
Israeli forces must immediately end the improper targeting of Palestinian children with crowd control weapons and Israeli soldiers who aim crowd control weapons at children’s heads and upper bodies at close range must be held accountable for their actions.
Please forward this message to your elected officials and urge them to hold Israeli forces accountable for intentionally targeting Palestinian children.
Ayed Abu Eqtaish
Accountability Program Director
Defense for Children International – Palestine
