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West Bank child deaths reflect ‘broader Israeli policy’ of killings ‘with virtually no accountability’: B’Tselem

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This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Family members and relatives take part in a funeral of 7-month-old infant, Sam Fahd Abu Haykal in the West Bank city of Hebron, Palestine on June 6, 2026. [ Wisam Hashlamoun – Anadolu Agency]

Children account for nearly a quarter of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since October 2023, the highest death rate of minors since Israel’s occupation of the territory in 1967, Israeli rights group B’Tselem said on Monday.

“The widespread, unprecedented killing of Palestinian children and teenagers in the West Bank is the result of a broader Israeli policy that enables the killing of Palestinians with virtually no accountability,” B’Tselem Executive Director Yuli Novak said in a report.

“When the military commander of the area boasts that Israel is killing Palestinians ‘like we haven’t killed since 1967,’ he is confirming exactly that: the system does not merely back those who pull the trigger — it effectively grants them a license to kill,” he added.

The group said that 241 children and teenagers were among 1,086 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since October 2023.

According to the rights group, 54 Palestinian children were killed in the West Bank last year, and in nearly one-quarter of these cases, Israeli forces delayed or prevented medical teams or local residents from reaching wounded children and teenagers to provide life-saving assistance.

Israel is also still withholding the bodies of 18 of the 54 children and teenagers killed in 2025, it added.

READ: Israeli army kills 2 Palestinians in southern occupied West Bank

“The killing of Palestinian children and teenagers in the West Bank is not the result of isolated mistakes or violations of military orders,” B’Tselem said.

“It is the outcome of an Israeli policy that expands the circumstances in which soldiers are permitted to shoot and kill, including children; backs those who use lethal force; labels Palestinians killed as ‘terrorists’ even when they posed no threat to anyone; and almost never holds the perpetrators to account.”

The rights group noted that “no single indictment” had been filed in connection with the killing of Palestinians in the West Bank since October 2023, including cases in which the victims were children and teenagers.

“The killings in the West Bank cannot be separated from Israel’s killing of more than 21,000 Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip,” B’Tselem said.

“By allowing Israel to kill on such a scale in Gaza without consequences, the international community has effectively given it a green light to pursue the same lethal policy in the West Bank.”

Since October 2023, the Israeli army has killed more than 73,000 people and injured over 173,000 others in a brutal war on Gaza that has caused widespread destruction affecting 90% of civilian infrastructure.

“As long as Israel continues to enjoy near-total impunity in the world, the lives of Palestinians – including children – will remain unprotected and exposed,” B’Tselem said.

READ: UNICEF: More than 260 Palestinian children killed in Gaza since ceasefire began

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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