Israeli military officials are tonight defending the attack and potentially fatal wounding of a 10-year-old Palestinian civilians at the Kissufim checkpoint, after troops shot him in the neck for “loitering.”

The military insists that loitering near the checkpoint is forbidden, and that shooting the child in the neck for doing so was consistent with the military protocol.

Israeli military forces routinely shoot and kill people who are even a little close to checkpoints into the Gaza Strip, though it is rare for one to be such a young child. The Israeli military continued to refer to him as a “suspect” in all statements, and suggested he might have been working for terrorists.

The boy, as yet unnamed, was confirmed to be unarmed, and was described as “gravely wounded” by Israeli sources. The incident is the second time Israeli forces have shot a young Palestinian child in the past few days, and will doubtless escalate tensions in both Gaza and the West Bank.