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'Why would anyone shoot an infant?': Killing of Palestinian children, teens by Israel surges in West Bank

Alia al-Hallaq’s son Mohammed was nine when he was killed by an Israeli army bullet last October, but the Palestinian homemaker still speaks of herself as a mother of five, not four. “I still haven’t accepted the idea of the loss. I often sit in the courtyard of the house and look at Mohammed’s grave below, and I cry while making sure that my children don’t see me,” she told AFP. She said Mohammed was killed after running away from soldiers patrolling their village of Al-Rihiya, in the south of the occupied West Bank. Hallaq’s uncle, also named Mohammed Hallaq, told AFP that his nephew was killed by a stray bullet during a confrontation between the army patrol and a group of older youths. The bullet travelled through Mohammed’s abdomen, according to emergency services. “Mohammed’s killing was the end,” his mother said. The Israeli military, contacted by AFP for comment on Mohammed’s death, claimed at the time that soldiers opened fire during an altercation while deployed in Al-Rihaya. “Soldiers responded with fire toward the suspects in the rock-hurling. Hits were identified,” it said, using language it generally employs to say troops shot and hit someone. The killing of Palestinian children and teenagers by Israel has become increasingly common since Israel began its relentless bombardment of Gaza. B’Tselem, an Israeli rights group, reported 235 children and teenagers killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since October 7, 2023 — when Hamas launched a massive attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip — through June 2026, including five killed by Israeli settlers. The Palestinian Authority’s Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission, a Palestinian government institution, reported 250 such deaths over the same time period. In the 17 years between 2005 and 2021, an average of roughly one Palestinian child or teenager was killed by Israeli forces every month, according to B’Tselem, a frequent but much lower rate. For the period since the October 7 attack, the average, using B’Tselem figures, is around seven killed per month. Bullets for stones AFP spoke to 12 women who lost children since October 7, 2023. Although the details of each case differ, all spoke of family life stopped in its tracks and a lack of accountability. Last year, of the 54 Palestinian children or teenagers killed according to B’Tselem, the youngest was just two years old, while the majority were aged between 14 and 17. Teenagers are often killed when Israeli forces engage with Palestinian youths throwing rocks, whom they routinely label terrorists, and shoot them. The Israeli military commander for the West Bank, Major General Avi Bluth, said in early 2026 that the army had killed 42 Palestinians for throwing stones in 2025, not specifying how many were minors. In several other cases, usually involving younger children such as Mohammed, witnesses said the army had fired indiscriminately at Palestinians and killed children who were present. One such casualty was seven-month-old Sam Abu Haikal, shot in the face by Israeli troops in the West Bank city of Hebron in June 2026. ‘Palestinians don’t get justice’ His mother, Dania Abu Haikal, 28, told AFP she was also wounded when the troops fired at their car while Sam was on her lap, with a bullet entering through her cheek and exiting through her ear. She bore a large scar on her face when she met with AFP at her home in Bethlehem, holding a stuffed fox that had belonged to her son. “Why would anyone shoot an infant? What did a baby, a seven-month-old infant, do to harm the soldiers?” Abu Haikal, a university lecturer, said. After a preliminary investigation, the army said one of its soldiers had opened fire on “uninvolved civilians” after their vehicle accelerated in the direction of the troops. Abu Haikal disputes this and said her husband had brought their car to a stop before the soldiers started shooting. She carries the agony of losing her only child on top of the physical pain from the shooting. “I cry every day; now my life is empty without him,” she said. Like others whom AFP spoke to, Abu Haikal consulted a lawyer to push the army to investigate the incident fully. “Palestinians don’t get justice for being killed by Israelis. But we hope that we get justice.