Israeli Forces Kill Palestinian Teenagers Weekly in West Bank

Israeli forces have killed Palestinian teenagers at a rate of roughly one per week across the West Bank since January 2025. The pace marks an increase from one death every three weeks recorded in 2021, according to UNICEF data released May 12. Seventy teenagers, mostly aged 15 to 16, have died in the territory during the period. Sixty-five of those deaths were attributed to Israeli forces.

Shtayyeh, 15, was shot on April 23 near his home in Nablus. Witnesses said he and friends were throwing stones at a military convoy below a side street. A passing driver told AFP that soldiers fired after stopping their vehicles. The boy was taken to a hospital but died from a gunshot wound that entered his back and exited through his chest.

Surgeon Bahaa Fattouh, who treated him, said the injuries were lethal. Two additional teenagers died in mid-May. Youssef Kaabnah, 16, was killed on May 13. Fahd Oweis, 15, died two days later. The Israeli military stated both had thrown stones at soldiers.

The Israeli military described the shooting of Youssef Shtayyeh as the application of standard arrest procedures after a suspect threw stones. It issued the same statement when contacted by AFP on the day of the incident and again later. Major General Avi Bluth, the military commander for the West Bank, told Haaretz that troops killed 42 Palestinians for throwing stones in 2025.

He characterized stone-throwing as terrorism.

Shtayyeh, father of the slain teenager, questioned the use of lethal force against stone-throwers. He noted that similar protests in other countries result in arrests rather than shootings. Youssef was buried in the family village of Tell, five kilometres from Nablus. His father said the boy had planned to travel to Saudi Arabia to watch a football match.

“A soldier got out, then two more. They started shooting at the kids.”