According to Defence for Children International Palestine (DCIP), since the beginning of the year, the Israeli Occupation Forces have killed 52 children in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, 46 of whom in the Gaza Strip.

The international movement said in a statement on Monday that among the children the occupation forces have killed, 18 were injured in the head, nine in the chest, seven in the abdomen, and five in the neck.

The movement added that the rest of the injuries were in different areas of the body (because of shrapnel), “which indicates that the Israeli soldiers are intentionally shooting at the upper areas of the victims’ bodies in order to kill them.”

It stressed that the Israeli Occupation Forces are still using excessive force and live bullets against Palestinian children by intentionally targeting them.

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The international movement considered that the reason for the use of excessive force was the widespread culture of impunity among the Israeli occupation soldiers and their prior knowledge that they would not be held accountable for their actions whatever the results.

DCIP also pointed out that, according to the Israeli Occupation Forces regulations, live ammunition must be only used in circumstances that pose a direct mortal threat to the soldier, and indicated that there is so far no evidence that suggests that children who have been shot dead since the beginning of 2018 posed such a threat at the time when they were shot.

It is worth noting that Tuesday, 20 November, is the Universal Children’s Day, when the Declaration on the Rights of the Child was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 20 November 1959.

On the same day in 1989, the General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Since 1990, the Universal Children’s Day marks the commemoration of the adoption of the United Nations General Assembly of the Declaration and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Since 2000, the Israeli Occupation Forces, security guards and settlers have killed more than 2,070 Palestinian children, according to DCI documentations.

Israel is still the only country in the world to systematically prosecute between 500 and 700 Palestinian children before military courts each year, in a way that lacks basic rights to a fair trial.

