Seven Per Month
Alia al-Hallaq's son Mohammed was nine when he was killed by an Israeli army bullet last October, but the Palestinian homemaker still speaks of herself as a mother of five, not four.
"I still haven't accepted the idea of the loss. I often sit in the courtyard of the house and look at Mohammed's grave below, and I cry while making sure that my children don't see me," she told AFP. Mohammed was killed after running away from soldiers patrolling his village of Al-Rihiya, in the south of the occupied West Bank. His uncle told AFP that the boy was killed by a stray bullet during a confrontation between the army patrol and a group of older youths.
The killing of Palestinian children and teenagers by Israel has become increasingly common since the start of the war in Gaza. Israeli rights group B'Tselem reported 235 children and teenagers killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since October 7, 2023, through June 2026, including five killed by Israeli settlers. The Palestinian Authority's Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission reported 250 such deaths over the same period.
In the 17 years between 2005 and 2021, an average of roughly one Palestinian child or teenager was killed by Israeli forces every month, according to B'Tselem. For the period since the October 7 attack, the average is around seven killed per month.
Bullets for stones
AFP spoke to 12 women who lost children since October 7, 2023. Although the details of each case differ, all spoke of family life stopped in its tracks and a lack of accountability. Last year, of the 54 Palestinian children or teenagers killed according to B'Tselem, the youngest was just two years old, while the majority were aged between 14 and 17.
Teenagers are often killed when Israeli forces engage with Palestinian youths throwing rocks, whom they routinely label terrorists, and shoot them. The Israeli military commander for the West Bank, Major General Avi Bluth, said in early 2026 that the army had killed 42 Palestinians for throwing stones in 2025, not specifying how many were minors.
In several other cases, usually involving younger children, witnesses said the army had fired indiscriminately. One such casualty was seven-month-old Sam Abu Haikal, shot in the face by Israeli troops in the West Bank city of Hebron in June 2026.