RAMALLAH (Dispatches) – The Zionist regime’s army has shot and killed a Palestinian teenager during a raid on the city of Bethlehem in the southern occupied West Bank.
Adam Issam Shaker Ayyad, 15, was killed after he was shot in the chest on Tuesday morning, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said.
The killing took place during a Zionist army raid on the Dheisheh refugee camp that began before dawn and included dozens of armored vehicles, after which confrontations with young Palestinians broke out. According to local media, Zionist troops arrested several residents during the raid.
The Palestinian foreign ministry described the killing as a “heinous crime of execution” in a statement, and said “Israel’s continued impunity encourages it to commit crimes against our children”.
“It is an extension of the series of extrajudicial killings and a part of Israel’s targeting of Palestinian children in general,” the statement continued.
Ayyad is the third Palestinian to be martyred by the regime since the start of the New Year, as a result of a continuing Zionist military campaign of intensified raids and killings that has lasted almost a year.
On Monday, Zionist troops killed two men during a raid on the village of Kufr Dan in Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank.
The United Nations said 2022 was the deadliest year for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in 16 years – since the end of the second Intifada or Palestinian uprising in 2005.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said the Western double standards encourage the Zionist regime to keep up the gradual annexation of the occupied West Bank, including East Al-Quds.
The ministry said it was pursuing the crimes of the Zionist regime with the competent international courts, including the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh also held the regime fully responsible for the repercussions that may result from daily killings and incursions.
“This crime reflects the thinking and behavior of the perpetrators, who continue their crimes without fear of being held accountable or punished,” the premier said.
He called on the countries that voted in favor of requesting a legal advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination to take immediate measures to provide protection for the Palestinian people.
In response to the killings, Palestine’s resistance movement Hamas said every drop of the Palestinian blood will ignite a new Intifada against the regime.
“The Israeli escalation against our people will only intensify their strong determination to confront the new Israeli cabinet’s terrorism and fascism,” the Gaza-based movement said.