Israeli forces shoot 2 Palestinian children in the back, killing them – Ceasefire Day 32

Compilation of news reports – IAK staff

In the West Bank, two Palestinian children, aged 12 and 13, were killed by Israeli army gunfire in two separate incidents on Friday, one in Hebron and one in Jenin.

Israeli forces also killed a Palestinian woman, on Friday, near Rafah city in the southern Gaza Strip.

38,495 children in Gaza have lost one or both parents due to the genocide, according to Gaza’s government media office.

BREAKING: Hamas hands over 6 Israeli captives to Red Cross in Rafah, Nuseirat, Gaza City

Hamas rejects Netanyahu’s threats over body of Sheri Bibas

Hamas said in a statement on 21 February that it was “surprised” by the claims made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the body of deceased captive Sheri Bibas, after Tel Aviv announced that it was not her remains that were handed over during the latest release.

Netanyahu accused Hamas of acting “in an unspeakably cynical manner” in its alleged handover of the wrong remains.

“Hamas is surprised by the uproar caused by the occupation following its claim that the body of the captive Sheri Bibas does not match the DNA test, and rejects the threats issued by Benjamin Netanyahu as part of his attempts to improve his image before the Zionist community,” the resistance movement said.

“We in Hamas affirm our seriousness and full commitment to all our obligations, and we have proven this through our behavior over the past few days. We have no interest in not committing or keeping any bodies with us,” it added.

The statement went on to say that Hamas “will examine these allegations very seriously, and will announce the results clearly.”

Hamas earlier addressed the families of Bibas and Livshitz in a statement, saying: “We would have preferred that your loved ones returned to you alive, but the leaders of your army and government chose to kill them, along with 17,881 Palestinian children.”

According to Hamas official Ismail al-Thawabta, Bibas’s remains were “mixed with other bodies under the rubble of a place that was deliberately and intentionally bombed by the occupation’s warplanes,” and that “Netanyahu is the one who issued the orders for the direct and merciless bombing, and he is the one who bears full responsibility for killing her and her children in a horrific and brutal manner.”

UPDATE: Hamas has located and handed over the body of Sheri Bibas; Israeli experts confirm the identity of the remains. Bibas family says they have not been officially informed of any details regarding the killing of the three Bibas captives (Israel claimed the children were killed by their captors “with their bare hands,” not by an Israeli airstrike); the family forbids any publication about their deaths.

NOTE: Twice, Israel has dumped unnamed bodies of Palestinians – 84 on August 5, 2024 and 88 on September 25, 2024 – many of which were unidentifiable due to decomposition.

Netanyahu’s accusations against Hamas appear to be another case of “every accusation is a confession.”

Under International Humanitarian Law, those who have died during an armed conflict must be handled with dignity and be properly managed. The law requires that they be searched for, collected and evacuated, which helps ensure that people do not go missing, the ICRC statement added.

Photos below show the handover of remains of Israeli bodies in marked caskets (although one may have been misidentified) and the remains of Palestinians, wrapped in tarps, decomposed and unidentified.

---

West Bank: Israeli Forces Kill a Palestinian Man, Injure His Wife in Tulkarem

A Palestinian man succumbed to the injuries he sustained when an Israeli armored vehicle struck the vehicle he and his wife were traveling near the Tulkarem refugee camp in Tulkarem, in the northwestern part of the occupied West Bank.

Media sources said that the citizen, Ahmad Riad Ahmad Awad, 44, died on Friday morning, less than 24 hours after an army vehicle deliberately struck the vehicle he and his wife were traveling in, at the entrance to the Tulkarem refugee camp.

Sources added that while traveling at a high rate of speed, the armored vehicle struck the civilian vehicle head on, injuring both Awad and his wife, on Thursday afternoon.

Ambulance crews transported them to hospital, where Awad was later pronounced dead, while the condition of his wife was described as moderate.

Israeli army rams Palestinian car, kills driver

An Israeli army vehicle yesterday rammed into a Palestinian car, killing the driver.

Ahmad Awad, a Palestinian teacher, was driving with his wife when the military vehicle hit them in Tulkarm, occupied West Bank. pic.twitter.com/BifTYG86F2

— Middle East Monitor (@MiddleEastMnt) February 22, 2025

---

Two Palestinian children age 12, 13 ‘shot in the back’ and killed by Israeli soldiers  

Two Palestinian children were shot in the back and killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank, child rights workers said.

Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP) identified the two children as Ayman Al-Hemouni, 12, from Hebron and Rimas Ammouri, a 13-year-old girl from Jenin.

Ayman was near the home of a family member in the Hebron area when he was “shot in the back by an Israeli soldier” on Friday evening. Rimas was shot while standing in the courtyard of her family home in the Jenin area on Friday afternoon, the organisation said.

An Israeli soldier in an armored car, stationed approximately 50 meters (164 feet) from Rimas, fired at least five bullets into the courtyard where she was standing, hitting her in the back, DCIP said.

“Both Ayman and Rimas were targeted suddenly and without warning in the back with lethal force by Israeli soldiers safely positioned inside armored vehicles,” DCIP’s Ayed Abu Eqtaish said.

“Israeli forces have nothing but contempt for Palestinian children’s lives and systemic impunity means they will face no consequences,” Abu Eqtaish said (more details here).

Two Israelis detained in connection to Tel Aviv bus blasts, in a possible “false flag” incident

Two Israelis were arrested overnight on 20 February over their alleged involvement in planting explosives that detonated in empty buses in a parking lot in the Tel Aviv suburbs, Haaretz reported on 21 February.

The Israeli newspaper stated that the “two suspects have been transferred to the Shin Bet security agency for interrogation, though a court has issued a gag order on further details of the affair.”

On Thursday night, three explosive devices were set off on buses in Bat Yam at 9:00 pm. An additional device was found before it detonated in the nearby city of Holon.

Because the buses were empty, no casualties resulted.

Bags with Arabic writing on them were found on some of the buses. A police source said that the Arabic writing on one of the bags containing an explosive device said “attack” and “Tulkarem.”

Some social media users and Palestinian analysts have hinted at a possible false flag operation to justify escalating a siege that has ravaged the occupied West Bank for over 30 consecutive days, with many pointing to poorly written Arabic messages found on the explosive devices.

Following news of the explosions, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz quickly directed the army to “intensify operations” in the occupied West Bank.

Netanyahu invades Palestinian home, orders ‘expanded’ West Bank raids

During a military briefing inside a Palestinian home in Tulkarem on 21 February, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israeli forces “will launch additional operational activity against terror centers.”

“In the past year, we have greatly increased our activity,” he said. “We are entering the terrorist strongholds, clearing entire streets used by terrorists, their homes. We are eliminating terrorists and commanders.”

Netanyahu’s entry into occupied Tulkarem took place amid the Israeli army’s ongoing assault on the city.

WAFA news agency reported on Friday that Netanyahu broke into a house in the city’s refugee camp while accompanied by soldiers.

Israeli media shared a photo of Netanyahu inside the house alongside Israeli military officers. The image also shows Israeli soldiers putting an Israeli flag on one of the walls of the house, WAFA added.

‘Unconscionable’ for EU to Roll Out Red Carpet for Israeli Foreign Minister, Says Amnesty

Amnesty International is calling out the European Union for planning to welcome Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar to Belgium next Monday even as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant face arrest warrants for Israel’s genocidal assault on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The human rights group joined historians, political leaders, and United Nations experts in condemning Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide in December—just two weeks after the International Criminal Court (ICC) formally issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant, and Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri.

“It is unconscionable that the E.U. is rolling out the red carpet for foreign minister Sa’ar whose boss, Prime Minister Netanyahu, is wanted by the ICC,” Eve Geddie, director at the Amnesty International European Institutions Office, said in a Thursday statement about the foreign minister’s trip to Brussels for an E.U.-Israel Association Council meeting.

“Discussions on the E.U.’s future relationship with Israel should above all be premised on an insistence that Netanyahu and Gallant face justice at the ICC for the crimes they are alleged to have committed, as well as on Israel’s adherence to international law and an end to apartheid,” Geddie argued. “E.U. leaders must put their commitments to international law, human rights, and the ICC above carefully choreographed diplomatic conferences with Israel.”

MORE NEWS:

Electronic Intifada: Miraculous escape for baby found in tree

The Guardian: Another ceasefire is under threat from Trump – the precarious deal between Lebanon and Israel

The Cradle: Israel launches overnight strikes on north Lebanon border crossing

The Cradle: UN warns Syrian economy needs over five decades to recover to ‘pre-war level’

IMEMC Daily Reports

Israeli forces fatally shot two Palestinian children in the back today in the occupied West Bank. Soldiers fired on both children from inside armored military vehicles.

Ayman Al-Hemouni, 12, in Hebron and Rimas Ammouri, 13, in Jenin.

Read more: https://t.co/7fg5TKtaAg pic.twitter.com/wLyenOKoqz

— Defense for Children (@DCIPalestine) February 21, 2025

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – FEBRUARY 20, 2025 (ongoing count):

• At least 63,319 Palestinians killed, 118,749 injured – including:
• at least 62,403 killed in Gaza (~20,600 children)
• at least 916 killed in the West Bank (~180 children)
• at least 111,749 injured in Gaza
• at least 7,000 injured in the West Bank

WAR STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 (Hamas attack) – JANUARY 19, 2025 (Ceasefire):

Palestinian death toll from October 7, 2023 – January 19, 2025: at least 48,143 – including at least 47,283 in Gaza (~20,600 children), and 916 in the West Bank (~183 children). Palestinian injuries: at least 118,472 – including at least 111,629 in Gaza, and 7,000 in the West Bank.

Thousands of those killed in Gaza have yet to be identified, and an estimated 11,000 more are still buried under rubble.

Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – January 19, 2025: ~1,616 (or 1,590) – including ~1,139 on October 7, 2023 (~36 children), 436 (or 405) military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza, 46 military and civilians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel.

NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries of Israelis on October 7 were caused by Israeli soldiers.