Funeral held for 10-year-old boy killed by Israeli forces in occupied West Bank

A funeral was held in the occupied West Bank for a 10-year-old Palestinian boy who was shot and killed by Israeli forces in the village of Burin on Monday.

The funeral of Amr Mohammad Ghaleb Najjar, who was shot in the head while travelling in his father's car, began at the Rafida Hospital in Nablus where he was pronounced dead on Monday.

He was then taken on foot to the village of Burin, south of Nablus, where he had been born, with crowds of people joining the procession.

Following the funeral, Amr's mother said: "Amr was my eldest son. He was 10 years old. He was the best of all children. The most polite. All his classmates speak highly of him."

She added: "We live in fear, my children live in fear. When they leave school, they must call me to let me know they are on their way so I can meet them on the road [...] I'll do anything for my children."

Amr was shot in the head by Israeli forces as he sat in the front seat of his father's car which was driving through Burin at the time, according to Defense for Children International Palestine (DCIP).

After Amr was shot, his father got out of the car and called for an ambulance, with Amr eventually brought to Rafida hospital, although he was later pronounced dead.

DCIP also reported that Israeli forces shot over the heads of residents who had gathered at the scene, with Palestinian news agency Wafa reporting that Israeli forces shot and injured two men in the village during the same incursion.

Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP said that "decades of systemic impunity has created a situation where Israeli forces shoot to kill without limit".

"As Palestinian children are increasingly targets in the West Bank, Israeli forces' rules of engagement seemingly allow direct targeting of Palestinian children where no threat exists to justify the use of international lethal force."

Since 7 October 421 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or illegal Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, including 111 children, according to statistics from the Palestinian health ministry in the occupied West Bank.

As well as those killed in the West Bank, Israel has killed around 12,500 children in its war on Gaza, which has in total resulted in the deaths of 30,631 people.

This includes Hind Rajab, a six-year-old girl who was shot to death alongside her family in their car by Israeli forces. The incident was documented by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society which took a call as the shooting occurred.

Moreover, famine in the Gaza Strip has put children at even greater risk, with the UN aid agencies warning that malnutrition levels among children in northern Gaza were "particularly extreme".