In a West Bank clinic, the father of a nine-year-old Palestinian boy showed us where the bullet shot by an Israeli soldier entered his son’s neck and where it left his small body through his spine.
Kareem Sharaab had been outside his home when the Israeli military entered his village in the occupied West Bank.
He’d been sent out to the shops for groceries. The short walk would change his life forever.
His grandfather, Hani, told me what happened next. “There was nothing going on then. No clashes, nothing. The kid was just playing on the road. Out of nowhere, the sound of gunfire, and the voice of children screaming out that Kareem has been injured.”
Hani rushed down to his grandson and carried his body hundreds of yards to an ambulance.
Paramedics fought to staunch the flow of blood and save Kareem. Kareem’s father, Shadi, showed us a video of those moments.
“The first time I saw this, I ran to the bathroom to cry. I can’t bear it. I can’t handle it. It’s too much for me,” he told me.
Kareem’s life was saved but he has been left paralysed from the waist down. He will never walk again. His brothers and sisters are traumatised by what happened, his father added.
“Look, before the incident, my children had normal lives,” Shadi said. “Today, they’re startled by sounds and terrified when they see soldiers at checkpoints. They can’t get the idea out of their minds that a soldier will always shoot at you.”
They are one of hundreds of families across the West Bank and East Jerusalem whose lives have been shattered by Israelis shooting their children.
The death toll of Palestinian children killed by Israel in shootings and airstrikes in the occupied West Bank has doubled since 7 October last year.
By the end of November, 170 under the age of 18 have lost their lives, according to DCI (Defense for Children International) Palestine and Save the Children.
Of those killed 70 were 15 or younger and four were below the age of nine. At least 1,400 children have reportedly been wounded.
Sky News has looked into each of the children’s deaths and compiled photos of as many of them as we could find.
In some cases, Israelis claim the children they killed had been threatening soldiers with knives, guns or petrol bombs.
In a statement, the Israel Defence Forces told Sky News that Palestinian minors in the West Bank “often participate in violent disturbances and hostile activities against security forces and Israeli citizens. In addition, terrorist organisations operate and embed themselves within the civilian population, using civilians as human shields”.
All cases involving children or civilians being killed, the IDF told us, are “thoroughly investigated”. Nine-year-old Kareem’s case is still under investigation, nine months after it happened.
The Israeli military has strict open-fire regulations. Soldiers can only use lethal fire in life-threatening situations and only then as a last resort and are instructed to shoot at the legs if possible. However, Israeli soldiers are rarely prosecuted or convicted for breaching those regulations despite the high death toll.
We went to Jenin to find a family mourning one of Israel’s latest child victims. The mother of 14-year-old Rayan Al Sayed, Reem, told us of their loss.
“I miss him every hour,” she told me. “I haven’t slept in two days. Every night I feel him. He comes home to me, and says ‘mom I’m here’, ‘mom I can see you’. When I pray, I see him in front of me, smiling, bless him.”
Rayan’s uncle, Fuad, took us to the place where Israelis shot him twice, very close to the family home.
The Israeli military said soldiers had been attacked with explosives and firearms.
In a statement, they said: “During security forces’ activities to arrest a wanted individual in Jenin on 14 October 2024, terrorists opened fire at our forces from several locations, who responded with gunfire, and two armed terrorists were neutralised.
“During the operation, a terrorist threw explosives at our forces, who responded with fire, resulting in identified hits. The circumstances of the case are under investigation.”
Palestinian eyewitnesses we spoke to in Jenin denied the Israelis came under fire and said Rayan was unarmed and not throwing stones or anything else.
“One jeep started firing,” one eyewitness told us. “Then the other did as well. Both did. The one over there fired directly at us here, hitting the boy in his chest and neck.”
Rayan’s friends picked him up in their arms and rushed him away, taking him to hospital where he died of his wounds not long after arriving, video footage shot by an eyewitness showed. The footage did not appear to show anyone was armed.
Itamar Ben Gvir, the Israeli national security minister and far-right extremist, has called for Israeli military regulations to be relaxed to allow soldiers to shoot any “potential” threat, including stone throwers.
Its military insists the rules have not been changed but in practice more and more children and teenagers are being shot, many dying from their injuries, whether they are throwing stones or not.
Alison Griffin, head of conflict and humanitarian campaigns at Save the Children UK, said the deaths of Palestinian children in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since October 2023 highlight “a highly concerning and ongoing pattern of violence against children in the context of occupation”.
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She added: “As an occupying power, Israel has clear obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law to protect civilians, particularly children who are entitled to special protections.
“The use of disproportionate and excessive force, especially against children, constitutes a grave violation of these laws.
“The vast majority of these children are being killed without any clear justification… it is essential that independent investigations are carried out to hold those responsible accountable.”
