NABI SALEH, West Bank (Dispatches) – The mother of a Palestinian toddler who died of his wounds after being shot by Zionist troops last week called for justice on Tuesday as she attended his funeral in the occupied West Bank.
Marching with mourners, Marwa al-Tamimi held her toddler for the last time, his face fitting in her palms as she leaned in to kiss his forehead.
“I want justice for my son, and for every person who shot at my husband and son to be held accountable,” she said.
Mohammad, who his mother said was months shy of his third birthday, succumbed on Monday to a gunshot wound to the head inflicted after he and his father came under gunfire by Zionist troops near their home while driving to visit relatives.
Haitham al-Tamimi, the father, was shot in the shoulder.
“When I went to check on my son, I told (the soldiers) that my son was killed. They said ‘stand back or we’ll shoot,’” the mother, who was not in the car, told Reuters.
Marwa al-Tamimi said she had no faith in the Zionist regime’s investigation.
“I want an international trial. Enough is enough. Every time we hear of a child who is martyred, a whole family is martyred,” she said.
Senior Palestinian official Hussein al-Sheikh on Monday night expressed his anger in a tweet.
“He (Tamimi) died by the bullets of Israeli occupation soldiers !!! What will the occupation authorities say about him? Are they going to call him a terrorist?? Is he endangering the lives of their soldiers?.”
The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland called for punishing the perpetrators of killing the two-year-old child.
Wennesland wrote on his Twitter account that “I condemn and am deeply saddened by the death of a 2-year-old Palestinian boy, who was critically injured by Israeli security forces’ gunfire in al-Nabi Saleh.”
The Israeli regime forces said they were responding to a shooting from the area. Civilians, particularly children, continue to bear the brunt of this conflict, he added.
Calling “for those responsible to be held to account”, he said, “My deepest condolences to his family.”
Palestinians gathered Tuesday for the funeral of the toddler.
Al-Tamimi is the youngest person killed in the conflict this year.
Since the start of the year, at least 156 Palestinians have been killed in violence linked to the Zionist aggression, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources.