Four-year-old killed by stray bullet in east Jerusalem

A four-year-old girl died in east Jerusalem on Friday morning after sustaining injuries from a stray bullet the previous evening, local media reported.

Hanan Yassin Zalloum, from Silwan, died after doctors attempted to treat her wounds for several hours in a local hospital, medical sources said.

The toddler, who was reportedly hit by three bullets, is the second Palestinian child gun violence casualty in a week, following an incident in Tel al-Saba, in Israel's Negev region, where a 10-year-old was injured in a shooting.

The tragic event occured just three months after another  four-year-old was killed by a stray bullet fired by an unknown assailant.

Rafif Mohammad Qara'een was rushed to hospital on 21 May after being struck in the head as she played on the rooftop of her family home in the east Jerusalem district of Issawiya.

Gun violence has been described as an epidemic within Palestinian communities, notably among Palestinian citizens of Israel.

At least 13 Palestinian citizens of Israel have been killed in separate incidents so far this year.

Read more: A deadly gun violence epidemic has gripped Palestinian communities. Is Israeli police neglect to blame? 

By the end of last year, that number stood at 93, including 11 women, representing an increase of 17 on the previous year, and 21 on the year before.

The rising murder rates in the marginalised community have spawned a grassroots protest movement, involving senior figures within the Palestinian Joint List party, who collectively decry Israeli police inaction and political indifference to resolve the crisis.

Analysts believe that a large section of criminal activity is rooted in the Palestinians' exclusion from the formal Israeli economy and competition over scarce resources, as well as decades of social exclusion.

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