Hold Israel Accountable for Killing Palestinian Children, PA Tells UN

The Palestinian Authority Foreign Ministry called on the United Nations to hold Israel accountable for killing Palestinian children. A letter was sent to UN Secretary-General António Guterres and other UN officials on the same day that Mahmoud Samoudi, 12, died of a gunshot to his abdomen that he suffered two weeks earlier during an Israel Defense Forces raid on the West Bank city of Jenin.

The letter, first reported by the Palestinian WAFA news agency, said that Israel has “willfully killed” at least 44 children so far this year. “Israel deliberately targets Palestinian children and minors with the stated aim of killing and maiming them, thus denying them their right to life,” the letter said. It called on Guterres to place Israel “on the list of shame for its systematic violations against Palestinian children.”

The IDF told Reuters that it does not intentionally target children and said its forces use live fire “only after all other options are exhausted, and in accordance with the operational procedures that are aligned with international law.”