Defense for Children International (DCI) in Palestine said that Israel’s military and security forces had killed 11 Palestinian children in the occupied territories since the beginning of the current year 2017.
10 of those children were killed with live ammunition during different incidents according to DCI.
The last one of those victims was 17-year-old Mohamed Lafi from Abu Dis town in east Jerusalem. He died of a fatal bullet injury in his chest after Israeli soldiers violently attacked an angry pro-Aqsa protest staged on July 21 near a military outpost in the town.
“The lethal force is used when there is an imminent threat of death or serious injury or to prevent committing a very serious crime that involves an extreme threat to life and this is only when it is evident that less violent means prove ineffective” the rights group said.
“Article 3 of the UN code of conduct adds that every effort must be made to avoid the use of firearms especially against children” it added.
DCI called on Israel to necessarily abide by the international humanitarian law and provide protection and care for the Palestinian children in the territories under its occupation and to open serious and impartial investigations into all the crimes that were committed against them especially with regard to killing incidents.
The Israeli occupation forces had killed 35 children under age 18 in 2016 in the West Bank and Jerusalem according to a previous report released by the organization.
