A 16-year-old Palestinian boy has been fatally shot on Thursday by Israeli troops during a military raid in the occupied West Bank, as UN officials warn of a dramatic escalation in violence against Palestinian children.
Deadly raid near Ramallah
Israeli forces have shot dead a Palestinian teenager during a raid on the town of Jiljilya, near Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.
The agency reported that Israeli troops entered the area on a military operation, during which settlers attacked local Palestinians. In the ensuing violence, soldiers opened fire, killing the teenager. The Palestinian Ministry of Health later identified the victim as 16-year-old Youssef Kaabina.
Since October 2023, there has been a sharp rise in attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, carried out both by illegal Israeli settlers and the military. According to Palestinian figures, at least 1,155 Palestinians have been killed in that period, with 11,750 wounded and around 22,000 detained.
Record numbers of children detained and killed
Nearly 350 Palestinian children from the West Bank are currently being held in Israeli military detention centres on security-related charges – the highest number in eight years, according to James Elder, an official spokesperson for the UN children’s agency (UNICEF).
“According to the latest figures, 347 Palestinian children from the West Bank are being held in Israeli military detention for alleged security offences. This is the highest number in eight years,” Elder told a briefing in Geneva.
He added that more than half of these children have no access to lawyers and no means to challenge their detention. Furthermore, since the start of 2025, 70 Palestinian children have been killed in the West Bank – an average of one per week – with 93% of them shot dead by Israeli forces. A further 850 children have been injured in the same period.
Elder also noted a record increase in attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinians, including children, using firearms and bladed weapons. In March, the number of Palestinians injured in such attacks was the highest in 20 years.
He separately condemned attacks on schools, the destruction of homes, and damage to healthcare and water infrastructure. Since the start of 2026, more than 2,500 Palestinians – including 1,100 children – have been forced to flee their homes, exceeding the total number displaced throughout the whole of 2025.
The West Bank, alongside the Gaza Strip, forms part of the Palestinian territories. It has been under Israeli military occupation since 1967. The UN considers both the occupation and the continued expansion of Israeli settlements on the land to be illegal.
Since October 2023, settlers have significantly expanded their presence in the West Bank. According to the Israeli NGO Shalom Achshav (Peace Now), more than 130 settlements have been established since the current escalation began – more than in the previous two decades combined. The majority of these settlements were not authorised by the Israeli government.
