Some 50 Palestine kids killed by Israelis since October 2015: Report
A Palestinian child takes part in a demonstration in favor of Palestinian children. (File photo)
A children’s rights NGO has
recorded around 50 deaths of Palestinian children at the hands of
Israeli forces since last October, which roughly marked the onset of the
Third Palestinian Intifada (Uprising).
Defense for
Children International - Palestine reported the fatalities, saying the
absence of transparent and neutral investigation into such incidents had
turned the killing of Palestinian children into normality.
Ayed
Abu Qtaish, a representative with the organization, complained that
international and United Nations (UN) agencies had failed to meet their
responsibilities in defending the rights of Palestinian children.
The
Israeli regime imposed restrictions on the entry of Palestinian
worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East al-Quds (Jerusalem)
last August, thus trifling with Palestinian sentiments and setting the
stage for the uprising.
The mosque is the third-holiest site in
Islam after Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina. It
is also revered by Jews and Christians. The Palestinian protesters say
Tel Aviv is trying to change the compound’s status quo.
Over 200 Palestinians have been killed since October last year. Israeli
forces gather around the body of a Palestinian whom they shot dead in
the city of al-Khalil (Hebron) in the south of Tel Aviv-occupied West
Bank, March 24, 2016. (Photo by AFP)The UN and
several human rights organizations have slammed Israel for using
excessive force, saying many killings are extrajudicial. They have also
blamed Tel Aviv’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian lands as the
root cause of the ongoing unrest.
Earlier in the month, Israeli paper Haaretz
released a feature on the ongoing Intifada, saying most of the
individuals involved in the new Intifada “are relatively young and have
no organizational affiliation.” Their motivations included “a clear
desire to exact revenge on behalf of others who have been killed, and
with general frustration at living conditions in the [Israeli-occupied]
territories,” it added.
The first Intifada took place between 1987
and 1993, and the second one in the 2000s. A total of 6,200
Palestinians died during the first two Palestinian uprisings.
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