Israeli strikes kill five in Gaza as teen dies in West Bank raid
Palestinian officials reported six deaths, including two children, while B’Tselem said child killings in the West Bank have surged since 2023.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
2 min read
Israeli attacks killed five Palestinians in Gaza on Monday, including an 8-year-old boy, while a 15-year-old Palestinian died after being shot during an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials said. The deaths added to a rising toll in both territories as rights groups warn that children and teenagers are being killed in increasing numbers.
In central Gaza, an Israeli drone hit the Wadi al-Salqa bridge on al-Baraka Street, killing Malik Wael Abu Shaweesh, 8, along with Ali Fayez Isbaitan and Hassan Salman al-Hanajra, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
Later Monday, an Israeli air attack struck a beach in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, killing two people and injuring 27 others, Gaza’s civil defence agency said. The agency did not identify those killed.
In the West Bank, Ahmad Jawad Jaber, 15, died while being taken to a hospital after he was shot in the chest and head during an Israeli raid in Umm al-Sharayit, a neighborhood of el-Bireh near Ramallah, the Palestinian health ministry said.
His body was brought to the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah, where mourners gathered. Laila Ghannam, the governor of Ramallah and el-Bireh, attended and told AFP: “Today, we witnessed a clear-cut execution in broad daylight.” She described the killing as “a disgrace to all institutions who claim to uphold democracy and human rights”.
Rights group cites child death toll
The Israeli rights group B’Tselem released a report Monday saying Israeli forces have killed 241 Palestinian children and teenagers in the West Bank since Oct. 7, 2023. The group said some bodies of children killed by Israeli forces have not been returned to their families by Israeli authorities.
“The widespread, unprecedented killing of Palestinian children and teenagers in the West Bank is the result of a broader Israeli policy that enables the killing of Palestinians with virtually no accountability,” B’Tselem Executive Director Yuli Novak said in the report.
B’Tselem’s report, titled “Unshielded Childhood”, focused on Palestinian minors killed in the West Bank in 2025 and placed those deaths within the broader period since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
At least 1,085 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank by Israeli forces or settlers since Oct. 7, 2023, according to figures reported by Al Jazeera. In Gaza, more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed during the same period, according to the Gaza health ministry.
The latest reported deaths followed Israeli attacks in Gaza on Sunday that killed at least four Palestinians, according to Al Jazeera. Among them was 13-year-old Eileen al-Farra, who died of shrapnel wounds after shelling in southern Gaza.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.