Israeli forces killed 30 Palestinians in the West Bank in October as the territory appeared to be on the brink of a wider revolt against the occupation.
Nearly 140 Palestinians have been shot and killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank so far this year, or died by other means during Israeli police and military operations. An additional eight Palestinians were killed during attacks or alleged attacks in Israel during the year and 35 were killed by Israeli forces in Gaza during the same period.
A United Nations monitoring group said that it is the deadliest year in the West Bank on a monthly average since it began systematically tracking fatalities in 2005. Two Israeli soldiers and a settler were killed by Palestinians in the West Bank during the October, bringing to 25 the total number of Israelis and foreign nationals in Israel slain in the context of the occupation so far this year.
Fayez Khaled Mahmoud Damdoum, 17, was one of at least seven Palestinian children killed by Israeli soldiers during the month. The teen was riding a motorcycle behind Israeli military vehicles in al-Eizariya, a town east of Jerusalem in the West Bank, when he was shot in the back of the neck, according to Defense for Children International-Palestine.
The rights group said that “Fayez, who was driving the motorcycle with a friend, attempted to slow down as the Israeli military vehicles in front of him slowed down, but the motorcycle slipped.” While his friend was able to get up and run away, Fayez was only able to run 1 meter before Israeli soldiers shot him from a distance of 2 to 4 meters away. Israel claimed that Fayez and his friend had attempted to throw a Molotov cocktail at soldiers, “an allegation disputed by eyewitnesses,” as noted by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). “According to medical sources, the child was shot dead with live ammunition in the back of the neck from close range and no traces of incendiary material were found on his body,” OCHA added.
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