One Palestinian child died at the hands of the Israeli security forces on Monday, April 10, taking the total number of Palestinian children killed this year so far to 16, among a total of 94 Palestinians killed. The Israeli forces were carrying out a raid at the Aqbat Jabr refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Jericho when the child was killed.
The Israeli forces reportedly stormed the camp at 9 am, looking to apprehend the suspects in the shooting and killing of two British-Israeli settlers in the Jordan valley last week. The violent and illegal raid was resisted by Palestinians. As the Israeli forces attempted to subdue the Palestinians, they also fired shots using live ammunition. 15-year-old Mohamed Faiz Balhan was shot in the head, chest and stomach, which resulted in his death. Three more people were reportedly shot and sustained injuries, two of them from live ammunition, reported the Palestinian Health Ministry. Five Palestinians were arrested.
There was a heavy deployment of Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank on Monday—including around the illegal settlements—as thousands of settlers accompanied by Israeli politicians marched towards an illegal settler outpost near the Palestinian-majority city of Nablus demanding the Israeli government legalize it. Those marching include 27 cabinet ministers of the incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu-led coalition government.
The killing also comes amid repeated Israeli raids and violence against Palestinians at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem. On Sunday, April 9, hundreds of illegal Israeli settlers invaded the mosque premises under heavy police protection. According to reports, scores of right-wing, ultranationalist settlers, accompanied by a large contingent of heavily armed Israeli police entered the mosque around 7.30 am. Reports noted that during the settlers’ invasion, Israeli security forces illegally barred Palestinian worshippers under the age of 40 from entering the mosque to perform the dawn prayers, physically assaulting many of them in the process. The police also imposed stringent restrictions and made security arrangements in the wider Jerusalem Old City area, where the mosque is situated, including evacuating the whole area of Palestinians to facilitate the settlers’ entry into the mosque compound.
The settlers were allowed inside the compound in blatant violation of the existing historical and legal agreements between Israel and Jordan to maintain the status quo, which clearly states that only Muslims are allowed to pray inside the mosque. Non-Muslims are forbidden from entering the mosque unauthorized or performing rituals inside the mosque compound. Nevertheless, the settlers roamed around in the courtyards of the mosque to mark the Jewish holiday of Passover, which this year falls at the same time as the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Despite the Israeli violence and repression, tens of thousands of Palestinians performed prayers at the mosque. Due to Israeli restrictions, the number of Palestinians who performed the Sunday dawn prayers decreased to approximately 30,000—a figure significantly less than the 130,000 or so who took part in the prayers in recent days.
Similar Israeli raids inside the Al-Aqsa mosque compound were carried out the whole of last week by the Israeli security forces and illegal settlers, resulting in widespread condemnation internationally and intense anger from Palestinians. Retaliation against these repeated, highly provocative and violent invasions of the religious site last week also took the form of rocket fire from resistance groups in Gaza and Lebanon. The Israeli military responded by indiscriminately attacking a number of residential and agricultural areas, including refugee camps, in both Gaza and Lebanon.
