Palestinian toddler shot by Israeli troops in West Bank dies
A 3-year-old Palestinian boy who was shot by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank last week died of his wounds, hospital officials said Monday.
Mohammed al-Tamimi was shot in the head last Thursday near his village of Nebi Saleh while riding in a car with his father. He was airlifted to Israel’s Sheba Hospital, which announced the boy’s death, AP reported.
The Israeli military has said it opened fire after gunmen in the area shot at an Israeli guard post at a nearby Jewish settlement.
But the boy’s father, Haitham al-Tamimi, said that he had just buckled up his son in the car and they were driving to visit an uncle when the bullet struck. The father was also shot and treated at a Palestinian hospital.
The Israeli military has opened an investigation into the incident. Rights groups, however, say that such investigations rarely lead to prosecution or disciplinary action against soldiers.
The shooting was the latest bloodshed in a more than yearlong surge of violence in the occupied West Bank and East Al-Quds. That fighting has picked up since Israel’s new far-right cabinet took office in late December.
Nearly 120 Palestinians have been killed in the two areas this year, according to an AP tally.