IDF has killed 235 children in territory since 7 October 2023 with no indictments in what activists say is ‘licence to kill’

On the day he died was killed, Mohammad al-Halaq had been jubilant about a new school bag he had been given in class, printed with the logo of the UN child protection and advocacy agency, Unicef.

“He was extremely happy. It was something out of the ordinary for him to be given a bag,” recalled his mother, Aliyah. “He came knocking on the door to tell me had this new bag to put pencils and pens in.”

The nine-year-old ran home then raced back to school to ask, unsuccessfully, if he could get another bag for his brother. After lunch, he went outdoors to try to catch birds in a net he had rigged up. He caught one and showed it off to his friends. Full of energy, he then wanted to go to his grandparents’ house nearby.

The al-Halaq family live in ar-Rihiya, in the hills south of Hebron, which have become notorious for Israeli settler violence abetted by an increasingly politicised army. So Aliyah was nervous about Mohammad going anywhere out of her sight, but she had to go to the shops and her son was determined, waving goodbye to her as he sprinted away. It was the last time she saw him alive.

Mohammad was shot in the pelvis by an Israeli soldier at about 4pm that day, 16 October last year. He had been playing football with other boys in a school playground when two army Jeeps drove up. The boys scattered in all directions. By one account, a couple of the older teens threw stones towards the Jeeps, while others shouted at the soldiers once they had reached what they thought was a safe distance.

A video shows a soldier get out of the Jeep and aim his rifle towards the hilltop where some of the boys were watching. Shots were fired and Mohammad took a couple of steps before collapsing. Others tried to reach the bleeding boy but were held back by more shots and teargas fired by the soldiers below.

  • zeezee@slrpnk.net
    3·
    il y a 3 jours

    even when reporting on literal child murder they had to finish the article with an IOF quote saying how they’re just “killing terrorists” - which while I get the backhanded approach to showing how out of touch that is - I can guarantee there’s people out there that will think “well killing kids is obviously bad but the soldiers are just protecting civilians from terrorists so it’s an unfortunate sacrifice - if they didn’t want Palestinian kids to get killed Hamas shouldn’t have started the war”

    especially when they say:

    That date marked the start of the Gaza war, triggered by a Hamas attack on southern Israel which killed about 1,200 Israelis (of which about 800 were civilians and 38 were children).

    but doesnt even consider mentioning that just in 2022 alone Israel had killed practically as many children as Hamas did on Oct 7th - or the fact that 2,171 Palestinian children had been killed since 2000 by Israeli forces and settlers…