Ramallah, Palestinian Territories – An eight-year-old boy and a teenager were killed by the Israeli army on Wednesday in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
The ministry said in a statement that “Adam al-Ghul, eight years old, and Bassem Abu el-Wafa, 15 years old, were killed by bullets from the occupier”.
CCTV footage circulating online and on television news shows a boy being struck by a bullet and falling in the street, sending other children fleeing.
Other images show a teenager also being hit by a bullet and falling, then appearing to call for help as more shots hit the ground around him and other people run for cover.
The teenager can be seen struggling on the ground in apparent agony for at least half a minute.
An official with the Palestinian Red Crescent told AFP that the boy and the teen had been on a side street of central Jenin’s main thoroughfare, an area theoretically off limits to the Israeli military as it is under the sole control of the Palestinian Authority.
Asked about the deaths by AFP, the army said it was “verifying” the information.
Since the October 7 attack on Israel and its ensuing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, violence in the West Bank has flared, with nearly 240 Palestinians killed by either soldiers or Israeli settlers, according to the health ministry.