RAMALLAH, Palestine

The Israeli army has killed 16 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank since the beginning of 2025, despite them “posing no real threat to the soldiers,” an international human rights organization said.

“The failure to hold Israeli soldiers accountable for their violations against Palestinians has effectively given them the green light to continue their actions,” Ayed Abu Eqtaish, the accountability program director of the Defense for Children International, told Anadolu.

Abu Eqtaish said that there is “a growing ease with which Israeli soldiers open fire on Palestinian children, leading to an increase in the number of those killed or injured.”

He referenced the case of Ayman Al-Haimouni, a 13-year-old Palestinian who was killed on Feb. 21 in the city of Hebron, southern West Bank. Abu Eqtaish clarified that "the child posed no threat to the soldiers at the moment he was shot and killed."

He further highlighted that Israeli soldiers “have repeatedly and deliberately obstructed ambulances carrying the wounded in recent incidents and have even assaulted the families of the injured, turning these actions into a systematic military practice.”

On Feb. 10, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported that the Israeli army has expanded its rules of engagement in the occupied West Bank, leading to a rise in the number of Palestinian civilian deaths.

The newspaper, citing Israeli military unit commanders, reported that the Central Command of the Israeli army has decided to apply the same rules of engagement used in the Gaza Strip to the West Bank — allowing the killing of any unarmed Palestinian, whether they are suspected of anything or not.

It further explained that “the orders made it easier for soldiers to pull the trigger at the behest of Central Command Commander Avi Blot.”

The newspaper quoted Israeli soldiers taking part in the ongoing military operations in the West Bank as saying that Blot permitted them to shoot with the intent to kill Palestinians without resorting to arresting them.

The soldiers explained that the recent high death toll of unarmed Palestinians in the West Bank was "unusual," attributing it to Blot’s orders allowing them to shoot and kill any Palestinian suspected of planting explosive devices or "tampering with the land."

The Israeli army has been conducting operations in the northern West Bank since Jan. 21, killing at least 64 people and displacing thousands.

Palestinian authorities have warned that the continued military offensive is part of a broader plan by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to annex the West Bank and declare sovereignty over it, which could officially mark the end of the two-state solution.

The raids were the latest in the military escalation in the West Bank, where at least 927 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 7,000 injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers since the start of the onslaught against the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The International Court of Justice declared in July that Israel’s long-standing occupation of Palestinian territories is "unlawful," demanding the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.