News / Palestine

Some 50 Palestine kids killed by Israelis since October 2015: Report

Sunday, 27 March 2016 2:21 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 27 March 2016 4:58 PM ]

A Palestinian child takes part in a demonstration in favor of Palestinian children. (File photo)

A children’s rights NGO has recorded around 50 deaths of Palestinian children at the hands of Israeli forces since last October, which roughly marked the onset of the Third Palestinian Intifada (Uprising).

Defense for Children International - Palestine reported the fatalities, saying the absence of transparent and neutral investigation into such incidents had turned the killing of Palestinian children into normality.

Ayed Abu Qtaish, a representative with the organization, complained that international and United Nations (UN) agencies had failed to meet their responsibilities in defending the rights of Palestinian children.

The Israeli regime imposed restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East al-Quds (Jerusalem) last August, thus trifling with Palestinian sentiments and setting the stage for the uprising.

The mosque is the third-holiest site in Islam after Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina. It is also revered by Jews and Christians. The Palestinian protesters say Tel Aviv is trying to change the compound’s status quo.

Over 200 Palestinians have been killed since October last year.

Israeli forces gather around the body of a Palestinian whom they shot dead in the city of al-Khalil (Hebron) in the south of Tel Aviv-occupied West Bank, March 24, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

The UN and several human rights organizations have slammed Israel for using excessive force, saying many killings are extrajudicial. They have also blamed Tel Aviv’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian lands as the root cause of the ongoing unrest.

Earlier in the month, Israeli paper Haaretz released a feature on the ongoing Intifada, saying most of the individuals involved in the new Intifada “are relatively young and have no organizational affiliation.” Their motivations included “a clear desire to exact revenge on behalf of others who have been killed, and with general frustration at living conditions in the [Israeli-occupied] territories,” it added.

The first Intifada took place between 1987 and 1993, and the second one in the 2000s. A total of 6,200 Palestinians died during the first two Palestinian uprisings.

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