UN Human Rights in Occupied Palestinian Territory: 1001 Palestinians killed in West Bank since 7 October 2023 – one in five are children [EN/AR]

17 October 2025

عربي

The UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is appalled by the killing of 9-year-old Mohammad Bahjat Al-Hallaq who was shot by Israeli security forces (ISF) while playing football in Ar-Rihiya, Hebron, on Thursday, 16 October.

The fatality brings the total number of Palestinian killed by ISF and settlers since 7 October 2023 in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, to 1001. One in five of the victims is a child including 206 boys and 7 girls. The number also includes 20 women and at least 7 persons with disabilities. This does not include Palestinians who died in Israeli detention during the same period.

The figure represents 43 per cent of all Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank in the past 20 years.

Since 7 October 2023, 59 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks or armed clashes in the West Bank and Israel, including 16 women and 5 children. Twenty-two of the Israeli fatalities were members of the Israeli security forces.

Documentation by the UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory attributes this staggering number of killings of Palestinians to the ISF’s systematic use of lethal force against Palestinians in the vast majority of cases, including live fire, airstrikes, and shoulder-fired missiles, in an unlawful, unnecessary, and disproportionate manner, with evident disregard for Palestinians’ right to life, including children.

The youngest of the fatalities is two-year-old Laila Khatib, who was shot to death by ISF while in the bedroom of her house in As Shuhada, Jenin. Laila was killed on 25 January 2025 during the Israeli operation known as “Iron Wall,” which resulted in the emptying of three Palestinian refugee camps in Jenin and Tulkarem. In another recent example of child killings, on 8 September, Islam Majarmeh and Mohammad Musaqla, both aged 14, were killed by ISF while trying to get back into Jenin refugee camp, posing no threat whatsoever to soldiers.

According to the UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, among the 968 Palestinians killed by ISF, almost half (449) were unarmed, and not involved in any violence or confrontation at the time of their killing. One hundred and seventy-four Palestinians, including 71 children, were killed while throwing stones or Molotov cocktails, often at well-equipped and protected ISF or ISF vehicles. In both cases, the use of lethal force appears unnecessary and disproportionate.

Seventy-nine Palestinians were killed in attacks and alleged attacks against Israelis, and 247 during exchange of fire with ISF following ISF incursions into Palestinian towns and villages. In many of these cases, the lethal force used appears either unnecessary or disproportionate, which requires full investigation, and where the ISF may be required to explain in what circumstances it became necessary to use lethal force, and what other measures were taken to protect the right to life.

At least 331 of these killings raise serious concerns of extrajudicial executions, including the targeted killing of Palestinians accused of participating in or planning attacks against Israelis, as well as the intentional killing of Palestinians only perceived to pose a threat, or no longer posing a threat.

Confirming consistent patterns of intentional killings, the UN Human Rights Office documented that among 640 Palestinians killed with live ammunition by ISF, at least in 55 per cent (or 355) were shot in the head or other upper part of the body. In at least 244 of the cases, ISF delayed or obstructed medical assistance to those injured.

Despite the absence of hostilities in the occupied West Bank, ISF launched 108 airstrikes and used other weapons designated for warfare to mainly target refugee camps in Jenin, Tulkarem, Tubas, and Nablus. During these operations, ISF killed 445 Palestinians (361 men, 10 women, 70 boys, 4 girls), of whom 258 by airstrikes and 46 by shoulder-fired projectiles, destroyed large parts of the camps, and forcibly displaced between 30,000 and 40,000 Palestinians. While ISF claims that those killed were “terrorists” during such operations, the UN Human Rights Office has verified that the majority of them were unarmed, potentially indicating systematic unlawful killings.

Many other cases appear to reflect a callous indifference to Palestinian life. In one of many similar cases, on 8 January 2025, ISF struck with an air-to-ground missile and killed two boys aged 8 and 10, Rida Ali Ahmed Bisharat and Hamza Ammar Ahmed Bisharat, respectively, and a 23-year-old man, Adam Khair Al-Deen Ahmed Bisharat, all unarmed and not posing any threat, while they were within their courtyard in Tammun, Tubas. ISF first stated they struck a possible terrorist cell but later admitted they had not taken sufficient steps to verify the identity of the victims.

Following 7 October 2023, settler attacks against Palestinians also reached a new peak in scale and severity, enabled by Israeli policy to draft thousands of settlers into the army and to provide further weapons to settlers. This has led to the killing of 33 Palestinians, including 3 children, 19 of whom were killed by settlers, while 14 were killed by settlers and the army shooting side by side.

International standards require Israel to ensure an independent and effective investigation of all incidents where individuals have been killed in violent or suspicious circumstances, including as a result of the use of force by agents of the State. However, Israeli authorities have only announced investigations into deaths following settler violence and the use of lethal force by Israeli security forces in extremely rare cases. In these few cases, there appears to have been no progress, maintaining the almost complete impunity for the use of unlawful force and the unlawful killing of Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The large numbers of Palestinians killed in this period, the prevalence of the unlawful use of force, the enabling and support for settler violence and the endemic impunity for crimes committed against Palestinians, all suggest that Israeli security forces use lethal and potentially lethal force as a tool to control and repress Palestinians, rather than as the last resort to restore and maintain public order and civil life for the Palestinians.