Israeli forces have shot dead a 14-year-old Palestinian boy during an operation in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials say. Moataz Daghlas was killed on Monday evening in the village of Burqa, north-west of Nablus, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

The Israeli military said soldiers identified “several terrorists who intended to hurl stones” in an area where stones had previously been thrown at Israeli vehicles, and that they fired “to remove the threat”.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said its teams treated two people with gunshot wounds, but that Israeli forces blocked their access to a third wounded person and detained three volunteer paramedics. Relatives of Daghlas said Israeli authorities were withholding his body.

Palestinian news agency Wafa identified the two wounded as a 17-year-old shot in the abdomen and pelvis, and a 19-year-old man shot in the hand.

According to the UN, at least 98 Palestinians, including 22 children, have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank since the start of the year. Over the same period, six Israelis — security forces and civilians — have been killed by Palestinians, it says.

The rules of engagement for Israeli forces were reportedly broadened after the deadly Hamas-led attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, allowing soldiers increased discretion to use lethal force against a perceived threat.

In June, the UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory said it had verified the killing of 241 Palestinian children by Israeli security forces and settlers in the West Bank since then. In many cases Israeli authorities cited stone-throwing; the UN office assessed that none of the children killed while involved in confrontations had posed an imminent threat to life — the only legal justification for lethal force in the West Bank under international law.

Source consulted: Israeli forces kill Palestinian boy in West Bank, health ministry says — BBC News