Rayyan collapsed and died when Israeli soldiers chased him, raided his home and accused him of stone-throwing. Israeli soldiers have killed 35 Palestinian children since the beginning of this year; no Israeli children have been killed. The U.S. and EU are calling for an investigation of this latest death…
Updated: The Palestinian Health Ministry has confirmed that a child, only seven years of age, died from a heart attack after Israeli soldiers chased the terrified child to his home, accusing him and his brother of throwing stones at them.
Initial reports indicated that the soldiers chased Rayyan Yasser Suleiman, 7, and many other schoolchildren when the army invaded Tuqu town, southeast of Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, before he fell from an altitude and died.
However, further investigations and testimonies, including one of his teachers, revealed that the soldiers literally scared the child to death when many soldiers stormed and ransacked his family’s home to abduct his brother.
The Israeli army claimed the soldiers wanted to ‘question the parents’ about a stone-throwing incident. However, it is not unusual for the Israeli occupation army to abduct and interrogate small children.
The Health Ministry said Palestinian medics rushed Rayyan to the Emergency Department of Beit Jala governmental hospital, but he had no heartbeats, and all efforts to save his life failed.
Israeli soldiers have killed 35 Palestinian children, 19 in the West Bank and 16 in the Gaza Strip, since the beginning of this year, the Health Ministry stated. [See photos of some of them here.]
“The U.S. State Department on Thursday called for a “thorough and immediate” investigation into the boy’s death, with deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel saying: ‘We are heartbroken by the death of an innocent child.’
“The European Union Delegation to Palestinian Territories said it was “shocked by the tragic death of 7 yrs old, Rayyan Suleiman,” and also called for a thorough investigation.
“‘Under international law, children enjoy special protection. The circumstances of this incident must be swiftly and fully investigated by Israeli authorities in order to bring the perpetrators to justice,’ the delegation said on Twitter.
“EU Special Representative for Human Rights Eamon Gilmore called it ‘heartbreaking that a routine activity has become deadly for children,” and added that “the EU calls for an immediate halt to the violence.’
WAFA reports that today Israeli forces today shot a Palestinian eight-year-old boy in the head with a rubber-coated steel bullet and detained two others in the Aida refugee camp, north of Bethlehem.
Palestinian boy shot by Israeli soldiers. (photo)At least 2,367 Palestinian children and 137 Israeli children have been killed by someone from the other side since 2000. (IAK)
For a complete list of Palestinians and Israelis killed since 2000, please visit Israel-Palestine Timeline
OTHER RECENT ISRAELI VIOLENCE AGAINST PALESTINIAN CHILDREN:
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