Israel accused of possible war crime after 8-year-old boy was shot in the head and killed as he ran away from IDF in West Bank

Friday May 3, 2024 – A UN human rights official has accused Israel of committing a war crime following an investigation into the shooting of two Palestinian boys in the West Bank.

The two children, eight-year-old Adam al-Ghul and 15-year-old Basel Abu el-Wafa, were shot dead by the Israeli army (IDF) in the city of Jenin in November.

Shocking CCTV footage of the West Bank incident showed the pair fleeing from a heavily armored IDF convoy before being shot.

One bullet hit Adam in the back of the head, while Basel was shot twice in the chest.

The teenager was seen struggling on the ground in agony for at least half a minute before dying – but Adam was killed instantly when he was shot in the head.

Days after the shooting last year, a Palestinian Red Crescent official said the children were standing on a side street off the main road in central Jenin that was off-limits to the Israeli army because it is under the exclusive control of the Palestinian Authority .

But the IDF convoy passed them after it was involved in an early morning attack in Jenin, in which the Israeli army claimed it had killed Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists.

The IDF claimed that Basel had an explosive in his hands when he was shot, and officials said at the time that the “suspects threw explosives at IDF soldiers.”

The teen can be seen holding something in his hand at the time of the shooting, but it is unclear what the object was.

CCTV footage does not show the boys throwing anything at the IDF convoy, and most of them appeared to run away when the gunfire rang out.

Ben Saul, a UN special rapporteur on human rights, said there was a possibility the IDF had committed a war crime by killing the two boys after viewing material provided by the BBC. following an investigation into the incident.

The rapporteur pointed out that there might have been legal grounds for the IDF to use lethal force on Basel if he actually had an explosive device in his hand.

But he said there was no legal justification for the murder of eight-year-old Adam.

Eight-year-old Adam al-Ghul

“This appears to be a violation of international humanitarian law that prohibits the intentional, indiscriminate or disproportionate targeting of civilians, a war crime and a violation of the human right to life,” Saul told the BBC.

The IDF claims the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the two boys are under investigation.

Basel Suleiman Tawfiq Abu Al-Wafa

But there is little hope that the investigation will produce findings that would allow the soldiers in question to be punished or reprimanded.

It comes as a human rights group Amnesty International said in a recent report that there were several cases in which Israeli forces used disproportionate and unnecessary force against civilians in the West Bank, committed unlawful killings and denied medical assistance to the wounded.