Since October 2023, Israel has been conducting a widespread attack on all aspects of Palestinian life in the West Bank. This involves widespread, systematic violations of human rights, most notably the fundamental right to life.
The deadly, indiscriminate violence used by the Israeli regime’s armed forces, including the army and settler militias, has led to an unprecedented increase in the killing of Palestinians, especially children and teenagers by Israeli forces. In two years and eight months, from 7 October 2023 to 7 June 2026, Israeli forces killed 235 Palestinian children and teenagers in the West Bank. A further five were killed by settlers. In 2025 alone, the year under review, Israeli forces killed 54 Palestinian children and teenagers in the West Bank.
The unprecedented number of Palestinian children and teenagers killed by Israeli forces is the result of a reckless, more permissive open-fire policy currently being implemented in the West Bank. Those responsible do not try to hide this policy; on the contrary, they provide full systemic support for it, as reflected in the comments of Avi Bluth, head of Central Command, who publicly boasted that „we are killing like we haven’t since 1967.” Bluth’s claim that „96% of the deceased were involved in terrorism” – a charge that B’Tselem’s list of deaths documented as a blatant lie – also reflects the Israeli regime’s routine practice of labeling Palestinians killed by Israeli forces as „terrorists” or „terrorist agents”, including civilians who were not members of an armed organization and did not pose a threat at the time of their killing. This identification creates a de facto systematic impunity for the killing.
The Israeli regime does not stop at ex post facto justification of killings. It also almost completely refrains from holding perpetrators accountable. According to the Yesh Din human rights organization, there have been no known prosecutions for murders in the West Bank since the start of the October 2023 war. However, the lack of pre-guaranteed immunity and the lack of real accountability for crimes is not limited to the legal sphere. It is also reflected in the „lack of public outrage” that stems from the Israeli public’s indifference to the killing of Palestinian children. In this context, the sharp increase in the number of children killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank cannot be separated from the more than 21,000 Palestinian children killed by Israel as part of its genocidal attack on the Gaza Strip since October 2023. The fact that even this unimaginable number has not led to a public outcry to change the killing policy shows how far the dehumanization of Palestinians in Israeli eyes has gone. These processes allow the reality of the routine killing of children.
The bloody story of murdered children and teenagers
The scale of killings since the start of the October 2023 war is reminiscent of – and, relative to the length of the period, exceeds – the scale of killings documented during the Second Intifada. In less than four and a half years, from October 2000 to February 8, 2005, Israeli forces killed 251 Palestinian children and teenagers in the West Bank. Another five were killed by settlers during that period.
This study focuses on 2025, a year in which Israel killed 54 Palestinian children and teenagers in the West Bank. By comparison, from the end of the Second Intifada on 9 February 2005 to the end of 2021 – a period of almost 17 years – Israeli forces killed 194 Palestinian children and teenagers in the West Bank. Ten more were killed by Israeli civilians and two by Israeli actors who B'Tselem could not determine whether they were soldiers or civilians. 2023 and 2024 were record years for child and teenage casualties: 120 children and teenagers were killed in 2023 and 89 in 2024.
Although the number of Palestinian children and teenagers killed in 2025 decreased compared to the previous two years, it remains one of the deadliest years in the past two decades. Compared to the period between 2005 and 2021, when an average of 13 Palestinian children and teenagers were killed annually by Israeli soldiers or civilians, the 2025 figures have quadrupled. That year, three children between the ages of 2 and 9, nine children between the ages of 10 and 13, seventeen teenagers between the ages of 14 and 15, sixteen 16-year-olds and nine 17-year-olds were killed.
The spike in the killing of Palestinian children and teenagers in the West Bank began in 2022. That year, the number of victims more than doubled, from 16 in 2021 to 34. The increase coincided with the relaxation of the open-fire order announced by the army in late 2021, which reportedly allowed soldiers to use lethal force against stone throwers, in defiance of previous rules. The new regulations, in violation of international law, allowed the use of lethal force even against fleeing stone throwers, who no longer posed a threat. After October 7, 2023, the rules of engagement were further expanded, leading to another sharp increase in the number of victims. This escalation was fueled by a desire for revenge and the increasing dehumanization of Palestinians in Israeli public discourse.
From early 2025 to June 7, 2026, Israeli forces killed 12 children and teenagers in the West Bank – including two siblings, ages 5 and 6, in the town of Tamun, and a seven-month-old baby in Hebron, who were killed by Israeli forces who opened fire on the cars they were traveling in with their parents. In addition, a settler shot and killed a 14-year-old boy.
Breakdown of incidents in which Israeli forces killed Palestinian children and teenagers in 2025
B'Tselem's investigation found that of the 54 Palestinian children and teenagers killed, only two were armed with firearms. Four others threw improvised explosive devices (IEDs) at Israeli forces, and one attacked a police officer with a knife. Thirteen were shot after throwing stones on roads or at Israeli armored forces, without causing injury. In contrast, at least 21 did not participate in any clashes, even when clashes were taking place nearby, including stone-throwing or throwing explosives. In the case of 12 minors, the army claimed that they had tried to injure forces by throwing Molotov cocktails, IEDs, or rocks; B'Tselem's investigation could neither confirm nor deny this. Another teenager was the victim of targeted killings. Of these, 47 were killed by firearms, and seven were killed in airstrikes.
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Eleven children/teenagers: He died from gunshots fired from a military ambush.
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Nine minors: He died during military raids on Palestinian communities.
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Four minors: He died during arrest operations.
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Seven minors: He died in airstrikes.
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Two minors: He died after being attacked by Israeli forces.
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Eighteen children/teenagers: He died during clashes.
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Three minors: He died under other circumstances.
Denial and delay of medical care
In nearly a quarter of the cases, involving 13 children and teenagers, the army delayed or completely prevented medical teams or local residents from reaching the wounded to provide first aid or transport them to hospital. In at least four cases, access was blocked for several minutes, and in at least nine cases, soldiers fired live ammunition into the air or at residents/health workers to keep them away from the wounded.
Detention of dead bodies
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As of June 6, Israel was still withholding 18 of the 54 bodies, preventing families from burying their loved ones. This is part of a long-standing Israeli policy that violates international law. Denying families the right to bury their loved ones, hold mourning ceremonies, and visit graves causes immeasurable suffering, which is especially unbearable when the deceased are children or teenagers.
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The stories of the killed children and teenagers, as well as the testimonies of witnesses and family members, as well as the results of B'Tselem's investigation, can be viewed on the aforementioned map.
