With files from Nick Logan in Toronto, Margaret Evans in Jenin, West Bank, and The Associated Press
WARNING: This story includes disturbing content.
Four Palestinians, including an 8-year-old and a 15-year-old as well as two senior militant commanders, were killed on Wednesday by Israeli forces in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian health officials said.
“The two children, Adam Samer Al-Ghoul (8 years old) and Basil Suleiman Abu Al-Wafa (15 years old), were shot dead by occupation forces in the city of Jenin,” the Palestinian health ministry said on Wednesday.
Unverified video circulating on social media appeared to show Al-Ghoul and Al-Wafa being hit, in separate incidents, but the footage did not show who fired the shot.
The Israel Defense Force (IDF) was asked to comment on the footage that has since circulated widely online.
“Earlier today, during IDF activity in the Jenin Camp, a number of suspects hurled explosive devices toward IDF soldiers,” the IDF said in response, according to the Reuters news agency. “The soldiers responded with live fire toward the suspects and hits were identified.”
The IDF’s claims could not be independently verified.
CBC News has also requested comment from the military and is awaiting a response.
Videos appear to show boys’ final moments
One of the videos shared by the official Palestinian news agency WAFA shows three boys running away before one of them, identified as Al-Ghoul, tumbles to the ground and stops moving. Another boy rushes to him and drags his limp body behind a car. A trail of blood can be seen on the ground.
CBC News has edited the video to show only the aftermath of the shooting.
Featured VideoWARNING: This video contains graphic content. Palestinian official news agency WAFA shared two videos of what it says are Palestinian boys being shot by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin. The Israel Defence Forces said: ‘During IDF activity in the Jenin Camp, a number of suspects hurled explosive devices toward IDF soldiers. The soldiers responded with live fire toward the suspects and hits were identified.’ This is one of the videos shared by WAFA.
A second video shows several boys, dressed in black, running in the street. A boy, reported to be Al-Wafa, can be seen moving forward with something in his hands moments before he appears to be shot, falls to the ground and lays motionless.
Featured VideoWARNING: This video contains graphic content. Palestinian official news agency WAFA shared two videos of what it says are Palestinian boys being shot by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin. The Israel Defence Forces said: ‘During IDF activity in the Jenin Camp, a number of suspects hurled explosive devices toward IDF soldiers. The soldiers responded with live fire toward the suspects and hits were identified.’ This is one of the videos shared by WAFA.
WAFA cited “local sources” saying Israeli forces shot the boys directly and “and left them bleeding, as they prevented citizens and paramedics from reaching them and treating them,” according to an English translation of its report. The report could not be independently verified.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society also said, in a post on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, it was prevented from reaching injured people in part of the Jenin refugee camp, though it did not specifically mention any of the victims.
🚨Israeli occupation forces prevent PRCS paramedics 🚑from reaching a besieged neighbourhood in Jenin Refugee Camp, despite the presence of injured persons who need help and whose life is threatened.<a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Jenin?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#Jenin</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/NotATarget?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#NotATarget</a><a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/IHL?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#IHL</a> <a href=”https://t.co/ATCVDmBKHD”>pic.twitter.com/ATCVDmBKHD</a>
—@PalestineRCS
Dr. Wissam Bakker, director of the Khalil Suleiman Governmental Hospital in Jenin, where the boys’ bodies were later taken, said the Israeli military placed the medical facility under siege.
“They entered inside the interior yard of the hospital and they prevent[ed] any wounded to enter the emergency department,” he told CBC News senior international correspondent Margaret Evans in Jenin.
He believes the IDF deliberately shot both boys based on where the bullets hit, “on the upper part of the body, in the brain and in the chest,” he said.
Israel says militant leaders killed in Jenin
The Israeli military also said its troops killed two Islamic Jihad militants during Wednesday’s raid in Jenin.
WAFA identified them as Muhammad Jamal Zubaidi and Wissam Ziad Hanoun.
The Israeli army said in a statement Zubeidi and Hanoun were killed during “counterterrorism activity conducted in the Jenin Camp.”
Zubeidi was a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative and one of its central leaders in the Jenin Camp, the army said.
The Israeli military said he had been involved in extensive militant activity and carried out shooting attacks and promoted other attacks.
Day 69:31Tension in the West Bank threaten to spiral out of control
West Bank violence, deaths rising
Prior to Oct. 7, when Hamas led deadly attacks on Israeli communities and Israel declared war on the Gaza-based militant group, 2023 was already a particularly deadly year in the occupied West Bank — especially for children, according UN officials.
The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has documented more than 450 Palestinian killings in the West Bank this year. More than 230 of those killings, including 61 children, have happened since Oct. 7, OCHA reported.
OCHA, in its most recent update on Nov. 28, said Israeli forces were responsible for nearly all of the killings since Oct. 7, adding 67 per cent of the fatalities “occurred during search-and-arrest operations and other operations carried out by Israeli forces.”
“More than half of the fatalities were reported in operations that did not involve armed clashes,” OCHA said.
Featured VideoMany in the West Bank see Israel’s war against Hamas as an attack on the Palestinian people. CBC’s Margaret Evans breaks down why some say it will only increase support for the militant Islamist group.