12-year-old Palestinian boy dies of gunshot wound from Israeli army raid
A 12-year-old Palestinian boy died Monday after being shot and wounded by Israeli soldiers during an army raid last month in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
Mahmoud Samoudi was shot in the abdomen Sept. 28 during an army raid in Jenin, a refugee camp and stronghold of armed Palestinians.
On Monday, the health ministry mistakenly reported that the boy was wounded over the weekend, but the Israeli military said the incident happened in September, and the ministry has since corrected its initial reporting.
The Israeli army said it was “aware of an allegation regarding injuries to a minor who participated in the violent riots and hurled stones at the security forces.” It said the circumstances were being examined.
Israel has been carrying out nightly arrest raids across the West Bank since a spate of attacks against Israelis in the spring killed 19 people. The army said it had traced some of the perpetrators of those attacks back to Jenin.
Israeli fire has killed more than 100 Palestinians during that time, making it the deadliest year in the occupied territory since 2015.
An Israeli military body has released a list of rules and restriction for foreigners wanting to enter Palestinian areas of the West Bank.
The Israeli military says the vast majority of those killed were militants or stone-throwers who endangered the soldiers. But several civilians have also been killed during Israel’s months-long operation, including a veteran journalist and a lawyer who apparently drove unwittingly into a battle zone. Local youths who took to the streets in response to the invasion of their neighborhoods have also been killed.
Israel says the arrest raids are meant to dismantle militant networks. The Palestinians say the raids are aimed at strengthening Israel’s 55-year military occupation of territories they want for an independent state.
Also on Monday, Israeli soldiers entered the Shuafat refugee camp in Jerusalem and searched homes and shops for a Palestinian suspected in the shooting death of an Israeli soldier over the weekend. Dozens of camp residents threw stones at the soldiers who fired tear gas.
Saturday night’s shooting happened at a checkpoint near the camp in East Jerusalem. Police said at the time that the assailant got out of a car and opened fire, seriously wounding the soldier and a security guard before running into the camp. The army announced early Sunday that the soldier, a 19-year-old woman, had died.
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