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Photo:
Mohammad Fayez Balhan, 15. Published by IMEMC News

The funeral of 15-year-old Mohammed Balhan, on Monday. Credit: AHMAD GHARABLI - AFP Published by Haaretz

15-year-old Mohammed Balhan. Published by Haaretz
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by IMEMC News
April 10. 2023

On Monday morning, many Israeli army vehicles invaded the Aqabat Jaber refugee camp in Jericho, in the northeastern part of the occupied West Bank, leading to protests, before the soldiers fatally shot a Palestinian child, injured two young men, and abducted five.

Media sources said a large military force surrounded and isolated the refugee camp before undercover soldiers invaded it and encircled a home.

Minutes later, many army vehicles stormed the refugee camp and deployed sharpshooters on rooftops of nearby homes and buildings, leading to protests.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said the soldiers killed a Palestinian child, Mohammad Fayez Balhan, 15, after shooting him with three bullets to the head, abdomen, and pelvis.

The Health Ministry added that the soldiers also shot two Palestinians with live fire to the lower extremities before the medics rushed them to Jericho governmental hospital.

The Israeli army said the invasion is not directly related to the shooting that led to the death of two Israeli colonizers and the injury of their mother in the Jordan Valley on April 7th.

The army added that “it is operating to curb the rise of shooting incidents in Jericho and the Jordan Valley, two major West Bank areas that didn’t witness serious security incidents the previous years.

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15-year-old Killed in Clash With Israeli Army, Palestinians Say

The clashes erupted at a refugee camp near Jericho after the Israeli army entered the area to apprehend suspected terrorists

by Hagar Shezaf and Fadi Amun for Haaretz
Apr 10, 2023 12:29 pm IDT

A 15-year-old Palestinian was shot and killed near Jericho on Monday during a clash with the Israeli army, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported.

Israeli soldiers entered Aqabat Jabr refugee camp in order to arrest Palestinians suspected of planning a terror attack. Palestinian media outlets reported five people were detained during the raid.

Palestinians identified the 15-year-old as Mohammed Balhan. He was laid to rest in Jericho in a mass funeral.

Balhan's father said in interviews to Palestinian media outlets that he saw Palestinians throwing stones at Israeli soldiers. Someone told he that there's a "boy lying on the floor." When he approached the boy, who was receiving medical attention, he was shocked to find that he's his son.

"The army fired without distinction. My son was hurt by a bullet to the head and three in the back," Balhan's father said.

The Israeli army said that during clashes that broke out in several parts of the refugee camp, the soldiers fired back at suspects who were throwing Molotov cocktails and explosives and that one wanted individual was handed over to security authorities.

Meanwhile, the hunt for the terrorists responsible for the Friday shooting attack at Hamra Junction in the northern West Bank, which killed Israeli-British Efrat resident Lucy Dee and her two daughters Maia and Rina, is still underway.

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Israeli forces shoot, kill 17-year-old Palestinian boy near Jericho

Defense for Children International - Palestine

Ramallah, April 10, 2023—Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian boy near Jericho today.

Mohammad Fayez Mohammad Awadat (Bilhan), 17, was shot and killed by Israeli forces around 10:30 a.m. on April 10 in Aqbat Jabr refugee camp, near the city of Jericho in the occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International - Palestine. Israeli forces entered Aqbat Jabr refugee camp around 9:40 a.m. earlier that morning, and while withdrawing from the camp, fired live ammunition indiscriminately, striking Mohammad in his head, chest, abdomen, and pelvis. A Palestinian Red Crescent Society ambulance transferred Mohammad to Jericho government hospital, where he was pronounced dead around 11:30 a.m.

“Systemic impunity creates an ultra permissive context where Israeli forces know no bounds and routinely shoot to kill Palestinian children in circumstances where there is no imminent threat to life,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “Unlawful killings of Palestinian children have become the norm as Israeli forces become increasingly empowered to use intentional lethal force in situations that are not justified. In short, these are war crimes with no consequence.”

Mohammad is the 18th Palestinian child killed by Israeli forces in 2023, according to documentation collected by DCIP. Israeli forces have shot and killed 17 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, and a 10-year-old Palestinian child in Gaza succumbed to head wounds he sustained during the Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip in August 2022.

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