The Guardian published a report by Quick Keisernbaum and Julian Borger addressing the Israeli army's impunity for killing Palestinian children . Since the attacks of October 7, 2023, the Israeli army has killed 235 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, and the perpetrators have not been brought to justice. Activists say the soldiers have a "license to kill."
The newspaper noted that Mohammed al-Hallaq was overjoyed on the day of his death with a new schoolbag he had received in class, printed with the UNICEF logo. His mother, Alia, recalled, “He was so happy. Receiving a bag was something he’d never done before. He came knocking on the door to tell me he’d gotten this new bag to put his pens and pencils in.” The nine-year-old boy ran home, then rushed back to school to ask, in vain, if he could get another bag for his brother.
Since the attacks of October 7, 2023, the Israeli army has killed 235 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, and the killers have not been brought to justice.
After lunch, he went out to try and catch birds with a net he had set up, and caught one bird which he showed to his friends. Overjoyed, he then wanted to go to his grandparents' nearby house.
The Hallaq family lives in the village of Al-Rihya, south of Hebron in the West Bank, which is notorious for the violence of Israeli settlers backed by an increasingly politicized army.
Aliya was worried about Muhammad leaving her, but she had to go to the store. Her son was determined to stay, and he waved goodbye to her as he ran away. That was the last time she saw him alive.
Mohammed was shot in the pelvis by an Israeli soldier around 4 p.m. on October 16th of last year. He was playing football with other boys in the schoolyard when two military vehicles stopped, scattering the boys in all directions.
According to one account, some of the older teenagers threw stones at the two vehicles, while others shouted at the soldiers once they reached what they thought was a safe distance.
The newspaper refers to a video showing a soldier getting out of a military jeep and aiming his rifle at the top of the hill where some boys were watching, firing shots, and Mohammed taking a few steps before falling to the ground.
Others tried to reach the bleeding boy, but were prevented from doing so by the increasing gunfire and tear gas canisters fired by soldiers below.
Aliya was at the market when she received the call. Her uncle was calling her father, but she sensed something was wrong and snatched her father's phone. Aliya said, "I asked him directly, 'Is this my son, Muhammad? Please tell me the truth. Is this my son?' He hung up when he realized it was me calling."
Mohammed died in the hospital. He was one of 235 Palestinian children and teenagers killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank, in addition to five others killed by settlers themselves, since October 7, 2023. On that date, the Gaza war began, and the acts of revenge were not limited to Gaza, but also extended to the West Bank, where the rules of military engagement were relaxed and impunity became the norm.
The acts of reprisal were not limited to Gaza, but also extended to the West Bank, where the rules of military engagement were relaxed and impunity became the norm.
The newspaper quoted Yuli Novak, executive director of the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem , which published a report on Monday focusing on the killing of five Palestinian teenagers by Israeli forces in 2025 alone, as saying: "The widespread and unprecedented killing of Palestinian children and teenagers in the West Bank is the result of a broader Israeli policy that allows Palestinians to be killed with impunity."
Novak added, “The system not only supports the perpetrators of the killings, but effectively grants them a license to kill,” referring to recent statements by Major General Avi Bluth, commander of the Israeli army’s Central Command in the West Bank, who claimed, “We are killing more than we have since 1967.” Bluth also claimed that “96% of those killed were involved in terrorist activities,” but B’Tselem described this as “an outright lie.”
Her analysis of the minors killed in 2025 found no evidence that any of them posed a threat or were members of any armed group. The Israeli military denied carrying out targeted killings.
However, according to data from the human rights organization Yesh Din, no soldier or settler has been charged with killing a Palestinian since October 2023.
In a separate report released last week, an independent international commission of inquiry affiliated with the United Nations concluded that: “Israeli authorities and security forces deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Gaza Strip, and war crimes in the West Bank.”
“The evidence shows that Israeli security forces deliberately targeted and killed Palestinian children,” said Srinivasan Muralidar, chair of the commission. Muralidar added that even after the partial ceasefire in Gaza last October, “children continue to be killed and seriously injured, as Israel continues to disregard the ceasefire and the protections afforded to Palestinian children under international law.”
Rimas Amouri was 13 years old when she was shot outside her family's home in Jenin refugee camp in February of last year. It was a Friday, and she was playing outside with her cousins. There was no sign of any security alert, and traffic was flowing normally. Her father, Omar, said the family lives near a military checkpoint in an area generally considered safe.
The father added: “We were living our lives normally. If I had known something was going to happen, I would not have allowed my daughter to go out to play.”
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted the army as saying after the shooting that its soldiers “spotted a suspicious person moving near the forces operating in the area. The soldiers initiated procedures to arrest the suspect, which included calling out to the person. When she did not respond, they shot her in the lower part of her body.”
B'Tselem's investigation concluded that from a distance of 40 meters, the soldiers could have seen that Rimas was a young girl. None of the witnesses heard any warning calls, and according to the medical report, "Rimas was shot in the back, indicating that she may not have been aware of the soldiers' presence at all." The military police questioned the witnesses, but the victim's family has received no information about any investigation.
Most of the children killed in the West Bank were playing outside when they died.
Omar Amouri asked: “If something similar happened to an Israeli girl, what would the reaction be? We are against killing anyone; we are like any other human being.”
The newspaper adds that most of the children killed in the West Bank were playing outside when they died. But two-year-old Layla al-Khatib was inside her family's home, sitting in her mother's lap, when an Israeli soldier shot her in the head in January of last year.
The mother, Taima, 25, remains in a state of shock that prevents her from speaking. Her father, Bassam, Laila's grandfather, said the family was having dinner Saturday evening in a second-floor apartment in the Martyrs' Triangle neighborhood, near Jenin, when they heard a commotion in the nearby streets. Israeli soldiers arrived in the neighborhood in three civilian vehicles with Palestinian license plates and seized a building near the Khatib apartment. Such incursions are common, and the family continued eating until gunfire suddenly became frighteningly close.Bassam recalls, “My wife and I lay flat on the floor, then I heard our daughters screaming and calling for Layla.” He entered the bedroom where his daughters had taken refuge, picked up Layla, and carried her out into the street, where he found the house surrounded by soldiers.
I asked the officer there, “Why did you shoot at us? Why did you kill my granddaughter?” The officer called for a soldier to administer first aid. The soldier said, “I can’t help her,” so the officer said they would call an ambulance. It took about 15 minutes, and Layla was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Bassam said: “This is a simple example of what is happening to our people. What is the goal of this? Is the Israeli government seeking to kill our children? Perhaps Layla’s story will put an end to the killing of more children and the killing of humanity.”
