Israeli tear gas attack kills 13-year-old Palestinian boy in West Bank

Ramallah, November 11, 2025—A 13-year-old Palestinian boy died today, one month after Israeli forces attacked his family while they were harvesting olives. 

Aysam Jihad Labib Naser, 13, was harvesting olives with his family around 10 a.m. on October 11 in the Wadi Aziz area on Jabal Qamas in Beita, south of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank, when Israeli soldiers heavily bombarded the area with tear gas and fired several tear gas canisters toward Aysam, causing him to choke severely and collapse, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International – Palestine.

A nearby nurse examined Aysam, noting he had a very weak pulse and was not breathing, and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation. An ambulance, which had been stationed close by in case of Israeli settler attacks, brought Aysam to the Beita Emergency Center, where doctors resuscitated his heart using a defibrillator, then Aysam was transferred to Al-Watani Governmental Hospital in Nablus. The next day, Aysam was transferred to An-Najah National University Hospital.

Aysam remained in critical condition in the cardiac intensive care unit until he died on November 11 around 6 p.m.

“Aysam should have been able to pick olives with his family in peace, and instead Israeli forces targeted him and his family with deadly force,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “Targeting a child who poses absolutely no threat to a soldier’s life is shockingly routine for Israeli soldiers, who are never held accountable for killing Palestinian children.”

Israeli settlers have been attacking Palestinian families harvesting olives in the northern occupied West Bank, frequently accompanied by the Israeli military. Three Israeli military vehicles entered the area where Aysam and his family were harvesting olives around 10 a.m. on October 11. The soldiers dismounted around 300 meters (984 feet) away and shouted through loudspeakers that everyone was ordered to evacuate the area within ten minutes. 

Less than a minute later, the military vehicles advanced toward the family and the soldiers ordered them to leave immediately and began firing tear gas canisters toward them. Israeli forces heavily bombarded the area with tear gas, and fired several tear gas canisters toward Aysam as he ran away. His eyes turned bright red, he could not breathe, and he collapsed to the ground.

Israeli soldiers detained the ambulance carrying Aysam from the Beita Emergency Center to Nablus for several minutes, interrogating the driver about Aysam’s injury, location, and cause before it was allowed to continue. 

Israeli forces and settlers have killed 47 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank in 2025, according to documentation collected by DCIP. 

Israeli forces routinely use so-called crowd control weapons, including tear gas canisters and rubber-coated metal bullets, to target Palestinians, including children, at close range, in violation of both their own policies and international law, according to decades of evidence collected by DCIP.