EYEWITNESSES and the family of a 16-year-old Palestinian shot dead during Israel’s military assault in Jenin have told the BBC he was unarmed and killed “for no reason”, after videos emerged of the moment of his death.
Twelve Palestinians, including four teenage children, and one Israeli soldier were killed during the two-day incursion in the occupied West Bank last week.
Israel said all the Palestinians who were killed were combatants.
But the videos show Abdul Rahman Hassan Ahmad Hardan, 16, was unarmed when he was shot.
The teenager was shot in the head outside al-Amal hospital on the second day of the military incursion, which Israel said was intended to root out a “safe haven of terrorism” in Jenin refugee camp.
It follows over a year of rising numbers of Palestinian armed attacks targeting Israelis, while Israel has intensified its deadly military raids in the West Bank. At least 160 Palestinians and more than 30 Israelis have been killed since January.
Israel’s government said its military operation last week was to stop the camp being a “refuge” for armed groups. It said it seized “hundreds” of guns and other weapons, including “advanced” improvised explosives.
It was its biggest assault in the West Bank in two decades, involving drone strikes into a packed urban area and armoured diggers causing massive destruction.
The United Nations accused Israel of using excessive force, while the Palestinian leadership called it a “war crime”.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Lt Col Richard Hecht, asked by the BBC last week about the casualties, said: “There were 12 people killed, every one that was killed was involved directly with terrorism.”
“A 17-year-old may be regarded as a minor but he’s holding weapons and firing… We can show that evidence. We have pictures of all of them, and intel that they were involved.”
Under international law, the use of firearms by security forces against civilians is defined as a measure of last resort, and can only take place to stop an “imminent threat of death or serious injury”.
Children are also given added protections under international humanitarian law.