Both boys were shot dead last summer by Israeli soldiers, the victims of an unprecedented surge in attacks on children in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
In the year since the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, Israeli troops and settlers have killed 171 Palestinian children there, equivalent to one death almost every other day, according to UN data. More than 1,000 others have been injured.
The youngest victim was a four-year-old girl, shot dead when she and her mother were sitting in a taxi near a checkpoint in January. Officially there is no war in the occupied West Bank, and the scale of death in Gaza has overshadowed the losses there. But children are dying in greater numbers than at any time since the Israeli army seized control of the area in 1967.
"In the course of last year there was an extremely concerning increase in children killed in conflict-related violence in the West Bank, and we already see the trend is continuing," said Jonathan Crickx, a spokesperson for Unicef Palestine.
"Unicef wants to ring the alarm bell that children are being killed and seriously injured on a regular basis, mostly by live ammunition."
The UN only counts child victims whose name, age and cause of death it has verified.
No soldier has been charged over any of the shootings, and the Israeli military did not directly address the surge in child casualties when approached for comment.
In a statement, it said children in the occupied West Bank often participate in riots where stones, molotov cocktails and explosives are thrown, and "in terrorist activities against security forces and Israeli citizens".
When a Palestinian is killed, the Israeli military does not launch a criminal investigation if "there is no apparent suspicion of wrongdoing" by the Israel Defense Forces, or when the target was taking part in activity that "had a clearly combat nature", the statement added.
この記事は The Guardian の November 19, 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は The Guardian の November 19, 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Hybrid working Battle looms as big firms order staff back to their desks
The post-festive return to work in the dark days of January is never easy, but this new year is shaping up to be tougher than usual for British workers.
Will the government choose pragmatism or purism when it pulls the plug on fossil fuel cars?
The main timetable is set: no new petrol and diesel cars will be allowed to be sold in the UK after 2030, and sales of all new hybrids will be forbidden from 2035.
EU gas prices soar after Russia supplies cut
The wholesale price of gas has risen to its highest level in more than a year after Russian supplies stopped flowing to the rest of Europe via Ukraine.
UK factory output falls at fastest rate for 11 months
UK manufacturers have cut back output at the fastest rate in 11 months, compounding the gloomy picture for the British economy, according to a closely watched survey.
Mackintosh theatre profits dip despite income rising
The producer of hit West End shows including Hamilton, Mary Poppins and Les Misérables has reported a dip in profits as cost increases more than offset a rise in revenues.
'Drab December' for high street as number of shoppers declines
High streets and other shopping destinations experienced a \"drab December\", with an annual fall in the number of visitors, fuelling fears of disappointing sales in the most important month for retailers.
Living in a box: The claustrophobic 'coffin homes' that could survive city's housing reforms
Lai Shan Sze moves quickly, bounding up the grungy, dimly lit stairwell of the unit block in Hong Kong's Mong Kok district.
Manatees not native to Florida, say scientists, but came for the warmth
Manatees, long considered among Florida's most beloved and enchanting inhabitants, are not US natives at all, and only came to the Sunshine State for warm temperatures and clear blue waters like any other visitor, researchers have found.
Ágnes Keleti, world's oldest Olympic gold champion, dies aged 103
The world's oldest Olympic gold-medallist, the Hungarian gymnast Ágnes Keleti, who escaped the Holocaust with false identity papers and the Soviet Union's brutal clampdown on her home country by emigrating to Israel, has died aged 103.
Finnish arena shut by Russia sanctions to reopen in spring
Helsinki's main sports and entertainment arena is expected to reopen in the spring after a Russian sanctions drama left it out of action.
