Israeli Forces Shoot Palestinian Child, Kidnap Two in West Bank Raids

West Bank, MINA – Israeli occupation forces shot and wounded a Palestinian child and kidnapped two men during raids in the occupied West Bank late Saturday, Palestinian media reported, according to Anadolu Agency.

Palestine TV said the child was shot in the foot during a raid near the Kafr Saba neighborhood in the northern city of Qalqilya.

The official Wafa news agency separately reported that troops kidnapped a man at his home in Hebron and another in Taybeh, east of Ramallah. The second man’s vehicle was also seized.

In Hebron, soldiers raided another house, confined the family to one room, and ransacked the property. Hundreds of Israeli settlers entered the city’s Old City under army protection and forced shopkeepers to close their businesses. Settlers also attacked a Palestinian home on Al-Shuhada Street, smashing windows.

West of Jenin, settlers attacked Palestinians harvesting olives and seized a tractor and quantities of the crop. In Kisan, east of Bethlehem, a settler assaulted a Palestinian and stole his belongings.

Wafa also reported fighting between Palestinians and Israeli troops during raids in Dura al-Qara and Ni’lin in the Ramallah area.

In Tulkarem province, troops raided four towns, disrupted traffic, and fired stun grenades, with no injuries or kidnappings reported. Voice of Palestine radio reported additional raids in towns and villages in the Bethlehem, Nablus, Tubas, Jenin, and Ramallah areas.

Saturday’s incidents combine several distinct forms of pressure on Palestinian communities in a single day. The shooting of a child in the foot in Qalqilya adds to a toll in which minors have been repeatedly injured or killed in the West Bank. In Gaza, a 15-year-old boy, Mohammed Nidal Barbakh, was shot dead by Israeli forces in al-Mawasi on Friday, and a 12-year-old, Adnan al-Qirnawi, was killed by gunfire east of al-Bureij on Thursday.

The kidnapping raids in Hebron and Taybeh, including the seizure of a vehicle, continue a pattern that has persisted throughout the week. On Wednesday, Israeli forces kidnapped at least 45 Palestinians, including five women and two journalists, and on Saturday they kidnapped three citizens in Jenin City, a young man in Nablus, and raided homes in the Iktaba suburb. More than 26,000 Palestinians have been kidnapped across the West Bank since October 2023, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society.

The entry of hundreds of settlers into Hebron’s Old City under army protection, forcing shops to close and attacking a home on Al-Shuhada Street, reflects the close coordination between settler activity and military operations that has characterized the past week. On Friday, Israeli authorities closed the Ibrahimi Mosque to Muslim worshipers while allowing settler religious ceremonies inside, and Israeli forces and colonists carried out 20 attacks on olive harvesters across six governorates in a single day.

The attacks on olive harvesters west of Jenin and in Kisan, where a settler assaulted a Palestinian and stole his belongings, are part of a broader campaign against the harvest that has drawn international attention. On Friday, Israel decided to deport 12 international activists, including five Germans, four Italians, two Canadians, and one American, who were kidnapped while supporting olive picking in Kafr Ni’ma, west of Ramallah. The Faza’a campaign described the deportations as an attempt to silence witnesses to settler attacks.

Israeli army raids and settler attacks have intensified in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since October 2023, with reports of killings, kidnappings, home demolitions, arson attacks, the bulldozing of land, and the displacement of Palestinian communities. More than 1,220 Palestinians have been killed and around 13,350 wounded in the territory during that period, while Israel has issued more than 9,500 demolition and stop-work notices across the West Bank.[]

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)