West Bank: Israeli soldiers kill Palestinian schoolboy in Jenin at point-blank range

Two Palestinians, including a child shot at point-blank range, were killed by Israeli soldiers in separate incidents in the occupied West Bank on Saturday.

One of those killed was 16-year-old Rayyan Mohammad Abu Mualla, who was gunned down at close range by an Israeli soldier in Qabatiya, south of Jenin, as he was heading home from school.

Footage circulated by Al Jazeera and other outlets shows two Israeli soldiers lying in wait as the teenager walks down a narrow alley. One soldier crouches while the other stands behind him, both watching Abu Mualla approach.

Seconds later, the soldier opens fire from just a few metres away, shooting the child four or five times. Abu Mualla is then left bleeding on the ground as Israeli forces block Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances from reaching him. He later died from his wounds.

The Israeli army claimed the teenager had thrown a brick, a justification it has repeatedly used over decades to excuse the killing of Palestinians, including children. Abu Mualla’s body continues to be withheld by Israeli forces, a practice routinely used against Palestinians in the occupied territory.

Earlier the same day, 22-year-old Ahmad Zyoud from Silat al-Harithiya, west of Jenin, was also killed after being shot in the chest during a separate Israeli raid. As with Abu Mualla, Israeli forces alleged Zyoud had thrown an explosive device at them.

Israel’s violence across the occupied West Bank has sharply escalated since the start of its war on Gaza in October 2023 and the return of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government in 2022, the most extreme in Israel’s history.

Since October 2023, Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed more than 1,102 Palestinians and wounded nearly 11,000 others in the West Bank alone. Thousands more have been arrested.

Israeli raids continued on Sunday, with soldiers assaulting two Palestinians and detaining at least eight others across the territory, including in the Aqbat Jabr refugee camp near Jericho, according to Turkey’s Anadolu Agency.

Those arrested were taken from their homes in Silwad, Bruqin and the village of Arqa. Meanwhile, Israeli forces also shot and wounded two young Palestinian men attempting to cross the separation barrier near al-Ram, north of occupied Jerusalem.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said its crews transported the two men to hospital after they were hit with live ammunition.

Israeli forces regularly target Palestinian workers and those seeking employment near the separation barrier around Jerusalem and along the West Bank boundary, a pattern rights groups describe as routine lethal enforcement against an occupied population.