ZIONIST MURDER STATE

Israeli soldiers kill 14-year-old Palestinian boy in occupied West Bank

Mohammed Shehadeh's killing comes a week after Israeli forces shot and killed multiple Palestinians

Mohammed Shehadeh was accused by Israel of throwing a Molotov cocktail before being shot by soldiers in the occupied West Bank town of al-Khader (Twitter)

By MEE staff
Published date: 22 February 2022 

Israeli forces fatally shot a 14-year-old Palestinian teenager on Tuesday near the city of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said.

The teen, identified as Mohammed Shehadeh, was accused by the Israeli military of throwing a Molotov cocktail before being shot by soldiers in the West Bank town of al-Khader.

The Israeli forces "identified three suspects who arrived at a location where Molotov cocktails were repeatedly thrown at Israeli vehicles recently," the military said.

Israel's military said soldiers gave Shehadeh medical aid at the scene where he was later pronounced dead; while Palestinian news outlets reported that a medical crew from the Red Crescent was prevented from reaching him.

The Palestinian news outlet Wafa reported that confrontations between Israeli forces and Palestinians in al-Khader continued late on Tuesday.

The killing of Shehadeh comes a week after Israeli forces shot and killed multiple Palestinians.

Nihad al-Bargouthi, 20, succumbed to bullet wounds in the abdomen after being shot by Israeli soldiers on 15 February at the entrance of the village of Nabi Saleh, northwest of Ramallah.

Several days prior to this, Mohammad Akram Abu Salah, 17, was shot in the head by Israeli troops as they stormed Silat al-Harithiya village late on Sunday to demolish the home of a man accused of killing an Israeli settler.

The rights group Defence for Children International - Palestine (DCI) said earlier on Tuesday that Israel is continuing to withhold the bodies of nine Palestinian children its forces killed.

The nine Palestinian children were all under 18 at the time of their deaths, which occurred between 2016 and December 2021, with the youngest being two 15-year-olds: Yousef Mohammad Odeh from Jenin and Mohammad Nidal Musa from Nablus.

DCI said in December that 2021 was the deadliest year for Palestinian children since 2014, as Israeli forces killed 76 Palestinians under 18, 15 of them in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem and 61 in the besieged Gaza Strip.