RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (Al Jazeera) – A Palestinian teenager has succumbed to Zionist army gunshot wounds he sustained two weeks ago during a raid in the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced the death of Muntaser al-Shawwa, 16, adding that he was severely wounded when a “bullet pierced through his head from behind his ear”.
Al-Shawwa was shot during an overnight Zionist army raid on the Balata refugee camp in Nablus city in the northern occupied West Bank on February 8.
The army had raided Nablus that day to secure a visit by Zionist settlers to the flashpoint site of Joseph’s Shrine inside the city, during which confrontations with Palestinian youth broke out in the area.
Al-Shawwa’s family told Al Jazeera that the 16-year-old was standing on the side of the road watching the raid when he was shot, and remained unconscious in the intensive care unit (ICU) for the past 13 days, before passing away on Monday.
“They come to our land and kill our children. Please tell me how a 16-year-old – a small child – both by age and size – can represent a ‘threat’ to Israel?” al-Shawwa’s uncle, Ibrahim Mashharawi, told Al Jazeera.
“In the camp when there are confrontations, all the youth go out to watch, because we are living in these conditions. It’s known that they are children, and the army can always shoot at the legs or lower limbs, but they shoot in order to kill,” Mashharawi said.
“The bullet entered from behind his ear and broke his entire jaw. Shortly after he got to the hospital, his brain failed and became fully paralyzed. Only his heart was beating, while his brain was dead,” said Mashharawi.
Al-Shawwa is the 51st Palestinian to be killed by the Zionist troops and settlers in as many days.
The teenager, who is also the 12th minor to be killed, was one of eight siblings. “He was very bright and very kind to his family, to his parents. They would depend on him a lot,” said Mashharawi.
The Zionist regime stepped up its military raids, arrests and killings in Palestinian cities and villages in the occupied West Bank from June 2021, following a popular Palestinian uprising known as the “May outburst” that swept Israel and the Palestinian territories it has illegally occupied since 1967.