Defense for Children International Palestine Branch confirmed that the investigations it conducted in the field proved that the Israeli occupation forces “routinely resort to lethal force against Palestinian children, in circumstances that may amount to extrajudicial killing or intentional killing.”

The movement said - in a statement - that the occupation forces "continue to target Palestinian children," although they did not pose any danger to the soldiers at the time of their targeting.

She indicated that the occupation soldiers killed with live bullets at the dawn of the second of January this year, the child Fouad Mahmoud Ahmed Abed (17 years), from the town of Kafr Dan in Jenin Governorate, as they stormed the town to demolish two houses, so that Abed would be the first child martyr during the year 2023.

Breaking: Israeli forces shot 17-year-old Fuad Mahmoud Ahmad Abed in Kafr Dan, near Jenin, in the northern occupied West Bank last night.

He sustained multiple gunshots to his abdomen, pelvis, and legs, and was pronounced dead around 1 am this morning.

pic.twitter.com/4DyzwUKccu

— Defense for Children (@DCIPalestine) January 2, 2023

Eyewitnesses stated that the child, Abed, was subjected to heavy fire from an Israeli sniper who was stationed in an abandoned building, from an estimated distance of 50 meters, in a location that did not witness any armed clashes or the presence of Palestinian gunmen, and that the clashes were taking place in other locations far from the site of his injury, according to for the statement.

On the following day, the occupation forces killed the 15-year-old child, Adam Issam Shaker Ayyad, from Dheisheh refugee camp (south of Bethlehem).

Israeli forces shot and killed 15-year-old Adam Issam Shaker Ayyad around 4:30 am today in Dheisheh refugee camp just outside of Bethlehem in the southern occupied West Bank.

Adam sustained at least one gunshot wound to the back of his shoulder.

Full report soon.

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— Defense for Children (@DCIPalestine) January 3, 2023

According to medical sources, the child, Ayyad, was wounded by a live bullet in the right shoulder from the back, which exited from the front. He arrived at the hospital without vital signs.

She added that Ayyad was hit from behind, confirming that he did not pose a threat to the occupation soldiers when he was shot.

In Balata camp, the movement explained that the death of the child Amer Ghazi Zaytoun (16 years) last Thursday came after several live bullets were fired at him, hitting him in the head, right wrist and right knee, according to Palestinian medical sources.

Israeli forces shot dead 16-year-old Amer Ghazi Mahmoud Zeitoun early this morning during a raid on Balata refugee camp, outside Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank.

Amer is the third Palestinian child killed by Israeli forces in 2023. pic.twitter.com/0X4gxsHXNK

— Defense for Children (@DCIPalestine) January 5, 2023

She also affirmed that the occupation authorities are obligated, according to international law, to "open an investigation into the crimes committed by their forces and hold the perpetrators accountable," noting that they "make no effort to investigate impartially, but rather provide protection and immunity for their soldiers";

Which encourages them to commit more crimes against Palestinian children.

In May 2022, Defense for Children International documented the occupation using a child as a human shield during its storming of the Jenin camp.

At the time, the movement explained that the occupation soldiers forced the 16-year-old girl, Ahed Mereb, a resident of Al-Hadaf neighborhood in Jenin, to stand in front of their military vehicle for about two hours, amid an intense exchange of live fire between the soldiers and Palestinian resistance fighters.

And with the martyrdom of the child Abu Zaytoun, the number of Palestinian martyrs since the beginning of this year has risen to 4, after the death of the child Adam Ayyad in the Dheisheh camp in Bethlehem, and Muhammad Samer Hassan Hoshieh (21 years), and Fouad Mahmoud Ahmed Abed in the village of Kafr Dan in Jenin.

In 2022, the Israeli occupation forces killed 224 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, including 61 children.