Killing of Palestinian children and teens by Israel surges in West Bank

Palestinian Alia al-Hallaq, mother of 9-year-old Mohammed, who was killed by an Israeli army bullet, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on July 16. The killing of Palestinian children and teenagers by Israel has become increasingly common since the start of the war in Gaza. | AFP-JIJI

Aug 30, 2026

Ramallah, Palestinian Territories – Alia al-Hallaq’s son Mohammed was nine when he was killed by an Israeli army bullet last October, but the Palestinian homemaker still speaks of herself as a mother of five, not four.

“I still haven’t accepted the idea of the loss. I often sit in the courtyard of the house and look at Mohammed’s grave below, and I cry while making sure that my children don’t see me,” she said.

She said Mohammed was killed after running away from soldiers patrolling their village of Al-Rihiya, in the south of the occupied West Bank.

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