Palestinian teen succumbs to wounds he sustained in Israeli raid on West Bank

Fourteen-year-old Qusai Radwan Waked died on Sunday after being taken to hospital along with a number of other Palestinian youths who were injured during a raid by the Israeli forces earlier in the day, the official Palestinian Wafa news agency reported, citing the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The ministry noted that Waked had been "seriously wounded in the abdomen by live fire from the occupation" forces in Jenin.

His death raises to 47 the number of Palestinians killed as a result of the deadly violence waged by the regime's forces and settlers since the beginning of 2023. According to Wafa, four of the victims have been killed by settlers' gunfire.

The Palestinian child was injured as the Israeli forces raided Jenin in a bid to arrest a Palestinian resistance fighter. Waked was one of three Palestinian youths who were shot in the abdomen and sustained critical injuries during the raid of Jenin.

A mass funeral was held for the slain Palestinian child later the same day.

Also on Sunday, Palestinians gathered for the funeral of Methqal Salman Rayyan, a 27-year-old Palestinian, whom Israeli settlers had killed with a headshot on Saturday in the town of Qarawat Bani Hassan in northern West Bank.

Attia Asi, who witnessed the killing, said the shooting happened before Israeli forces arrived at the scene.

"In the beginning it (the shooting) was in the air, then it turned towards the [Palestinian] guys, aiming to kill," Asi told AFP at the funeral.

The latest raid on Jenin also led to the arrest of former Palestinian prisoner, Jibreel al-Zubaidi, who had already spent 11 years in an Israeli jail.

Reporting on his fresh arrest, Palestinian media outlets identified him as "the brother of freedom fighter Zakaria Zubaidi" from the Jenin refugee camp.

Zakaria Zubeidi, a former commander of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which is a coalition of West Bank-based Palestinian armed groups, was also the mastermind of a daring 2021 jailbreak from an Israeli prison that involved six Palestinian inmates.

That incident saw the prisoners escaping the Israeli regime's maximum-security Gilboa jail through a tunnel they had dug in the prison's floor.

According to Wafa, later on Sunday, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh urged the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to hold the Israeli forces accountable for their crimes without giving them any leeway for impunity.

He made the remark while commenting on the Israeli forces’ killing of the 14-year-old Palestinian child.

“Waked lost his life and his blood was shed by the fire of organized terrorism that was carried out by Israeli soldiers against the Palestinian people earlier today during an Israeli raid into Jenin due to the sense of impunity they [Israeli soldiers] enjoy,” Shtayyeh said.

He also offered his sincere sympathy and condolences to Waked’s family.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, for its part, condemned the latest Israeli crime, saying it was the result of “the continued impunity of the Israeli occupation state,” which encourages it to commit more crimes against Palestinians.

The ministry’s statement said “the heinous execution” of Waked was “an extension of the series of extrajudicial killings” by Israel “and an integral part of the Israeli targeting of Palestinian children.”

It also held the new extremist cabinet of Israel, which is headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “fully and directly responsible for this crime and other crimes” against Palestinians.