Through 2023, the number of Israeli raids on the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has increased. Especially since 7 October.
Never before has Unicef recorded a higher death toll in the occupied Palestinian territories.
A total of 130 children have been killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem by the end of 2023.
124 of them are Palestinian, Unicef shows in its rapport. According to FN 506 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank this year.
This means that an estimated one in three Palestinians killed is a child.
In an interview with NRK, the IDF says that they are not familiar with the report and that the IDF itself will not vouch for the figures. But:
– The death toll is consistent with the amount of terrorism that has occurred in the West Bank, adds the press officer.
Completely normal children
– The number of children killed and injured is a record high, says Jason Lee to NRK.
He is country director for Save the Children in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Lee says the Israeli defense is behaving as if there is a war in the West Bank as well.
– Recently, two tanks rolled down the street in Ramallah. This is not a war zone, he points out.
– Who are these children who are being killed?
– They are completely normal children. Children who want to go to school, play, be with their family, Lee replies.
A bullet hole is seen in a window in the Palestinian city of Jenin in the West Bank.
Photo: MARCO LONGARI / AFP
According to figures from Save the Children, it is the Israeli army that is responsible for the vast majority of children killed and injured in the West Bank.
It matches what The UN has verified.
The IDF disputes Save the Children’s statement that the IDF kills civilian children:
– In many cases, it is young adults, whom you call children, who take part in violent riots, throw stones, explosives and Molotov cocktails.
Save the Children and the UN have also mapped that Israelis from the settlements that violate international law is behind several of the murders.
A Palestinian village on the left and a Jewish settlement on the right are separated by bars and a concrete wall. On the West Bank, such sharp contrasts are widespread.
Photo: LEFTERS PITARAKIS / AP
The IDF tells NRK that it condemns attacks against Palestinians carried out by settlers.
– It is wrong, it is terrorism, it is illegal and we are against it and we are trying to prevent it, says the press officer.
The IDF has stationed many soldiers in the West Bank, according to the press officer. The IDF claims they are there to protect civilians. He will not say how many soldiers are involved.
According to Jason Lee, there are an average of six attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank every single day.
Fear for children’s rights
During 2023, over 3,800 people have been injured, including 575 children, according to Save the Children.
In addition, 880 minors are detained in Israeli prisons, write Middle East Monitor. The vast majority are arrested in the West Bank.
The expiation conditions for the children are something Israel is reticent about.
An earlier survey of Save the Children however, shows that many children experienced violence, including gunshot wounds and broken bones. A large majority experienced starvation.
The IDF acknowledges that children are arrested, but not how many.
– Children also participate in terrorist planning, and they must be arrested, says the press officer to NRK.
Unicef fears children’s fundamental rights in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem.
Among other things, the right to safety, protection and the right to a life.
NRK’s question to the IDF:
Expand/minimize fact box
The latest report from Unicef concludes that a record number of 124 Palestinian children and 6 Israeli children have been killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem this year. The report excludes the death toll on 7 October in Israel and the aftermath of 7 October – in Gaza.
- How does the IDF react to this report?
Furthermore, Redd Barna’s figures say that it is largely the IDF that is responsible for killing Palestinian minors. Their monitoring also shows that some of the murders are carried out by illegal settlers. The Regional Director of Save the Children for the Middle East and North Africa is quoted as saying that: “These are just normal children, children who wanted to go to schools, play and be with their families.” In other words, Redd Barna says that children are non-combatants.
- How does the IDF react to Save the Children’s statement?
- -Does Israel believe that basic human rights must be respected in the West Bank and East Jerusalem?
- How can human rights be respected if there is extensive evidence of killings, including of Palestinian civilians?
- Is Israel doing anything to minimize the harm and violence committed against Palestinians in the West Bank by private Israeli citizens?
The Unicef report comes shortly after UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called on Israel to end the “unlawful” killings in the West Bank after the UN human rights office confirmed the deaths of 300 Palestinians, including 79 children, from October 7 to December 27, 2023 on the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
- Is the killing of Palestinian civilians, including children, in line with the IDF’s rules of engagement?
- Is it an Israeli policy to favor administrative detention over regular legal arrests?
- Almost 900 Palestinian children are registered in Israeli prisons. Why does Israel arrest minors?
- Doctors Without Borders states that attacks on the health care system in the West Bank have “increased dramatically and become systematic”. How does the IDF approach their reporting?
Trauma for life
– What conflict does to children in the short term is naturally enough that they become chronically afraid. Chronically in an alert state that makes development more difficult.
That’s what Katrin Glatz Brubakk says. She is a child psychologist at Doctors Without Borders, and is now on her way to the West Bank.
As a field worker for Doctors Without Borders, Katrin Glatz Brubakk has worked with children who have experienced war and conflict in the Congo, Egypt, Greece, on rescue ships in the Mediterranean and in Lebanon for a number of years.
Photo: Studio Prud
Through childhood and adolescencemany Palestinian children are exposed to everything from seeing family members, friends or acquaintances die, to seeing hostages.
Many children are themselves exposed to violence and witness how their homes and neighborhoods are destroyed.
– The chronic alertness means that, among other things, you cannot sleep properly. In fear that it might be tonight that they break down the door and there will be another attack.
This uncertainty affects the children, even after a single attack is over.
– It is difficult for the children to concentrate at school, because they sit and are alert and listen for danger more than concentrating on what the teacher is saying.
Children carry their anxiety with them long after they have experienced injustice, explains Brubakk. Here, a boy looks through a broken home.
Photo: RANEEN SAWAFTA / Reuters
The consequence for children who are deprived of security and protection is often lifelong damage, says Brubakk.
– These injuries have a major impact on their development as children, points out the child psychologist.
– Many, many years from now they will be able to strive to have what we call good lives. Both in the form of being able to learn, being able to have good relationships with others, or potentially also getting a job.
Impeding health care
Both Redd Barna and Doctors Without Borders claim that the IDF limits the ability of the healthcare system to provide sufficient help in the West Bank.
The independent aid workers say, among other things, that the IDF operates strict controls at the hospitals.
And that the IDF breaks up paved roads, which limit the arrival of ambulances and others transporting wounded patients.
Palestinian children walk along a road torn up by an Israeli-manned bulldozer in the Palestinian refugee camp of Jenin.
Photo: ARIS MESSINIS / AFP
The IDF disputes the claims.
– Terrorists are hiding inside the hospitals, claims the IDF’s press officer to NRK.
The IDF claims that Palestinians throw stones at Israeli soldiers from inside the hospitals.
– Imagine a hospital in Oslo, where terrorists hide and throw stones. What would you do? Would you stay outside and watch them?
2024-01-01 07:38:55
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