Palestinian media reported that an 11-year-old boy, identified as Mohammad Bahjat Al-Hallaq, was shot dead by the Israel Defense Forces in the southern West Bank on Thursday evening, with the IDF saying the following day that a probe was underway.
According to the reports, the incident occurred in the village of al-Rihiya, south of Hebron.
The official Palestinian Authority news agency WAFA claimed that troops opened fire on a group of children while they were playing soccer on a school playground and that Al-Hallaq was struck in the pelvis. He was rushed to the hospital in critical condition and later pronounced dead.
In response to a Times of Israel inquiry, the IDF acknowledged Friday that it had opened fire on “suspects” in the Hebron area the previous day.
“Yesterday, during an operational activity in the area of al-Rihiya, [under the responsibility] the Judea Brigade, disturbances and stone-throwing were directed at IDF forces,” the military said. “The forces responded with fire toward the stone-throwing suspects and hits were identified.”
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The military did not directly acknowledge the reports that the boy was killed, saying only that “the incident is under investigation” and that no troops were hurt.
Separately, the army said Thursday that it had killed an assailant in Qabatiya, in the West Bank’s north, who had thrown an explosive at its forces.
The IDF said the forces of the Paratroopers Brigade’s reconnaissance unit were not hurt by the bomb.
WAFA identified the man killed in that incident as 20-year-old Mahdi Ahmad Kmeil and said the IDF had killed him during a raid of the town.
Israeli army vehicles drive down a road during a raid in Qabatiya, south of Jenin city in the West Bank on November 5, 2024. (Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP)
Since October 7, 2023, troops have arrested some 6,000 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 2,350 affiliated with Hamas.
According to the Palestinian Authority health ministry, nearly 1,000 West Bank Palestinians have been killed in that time. The IDF says the vast majority of them were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops, or terrorists carrying out attacks.
During the same period, 62 people, including Israeli security personnel, have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another eight members of the security forces were killed in clashes with terror operatives in the West Bank.
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