Israeli occupation forces shot dead a 15-year-old Palestinian child and a 19-year-old teenager on Monday morning near the illegal Israeli settlement of Karmei Tzur, constructed on stolen Palestinian land in the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron.

The martyrs were identified as Reda Sami Hassan Awad, 15, and Issa Arafat Ismail Awad, 19. Security and local sources told WAFA news agency that the two young Palestinians were shot by Israeli soldiers, who then left them bleeding for a prolonged period before seizing their bodies — a cruel and inhumane practice repeatedly used by the occupation to inflict further pain on Palestinian families.

A third young Palestinian man was also wounded by Israeli gunfire in the same incident. He was transferred to a nearby hospital, where his condition is reported as stable.

This latest killing highlights the relentless violence and brutality of the Israeli occupation against Palestinian civilians, particularly children and youth, in the occupied West Bank. The settlement of Karmei Tzur, like all Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories, is illegal under international law and represents the ongoing theft of Palestinian land and resources.

Palestinians in Beit Ummar and across the occupied territories continue to face daily aggression, home demolitions, land confiscation, and lethal force from Israeli soldiers and armed settlers. The deliberate withholding of the bodies of the slain is widely condemned as a form of collective punishment that violates basic human dignity and international humanitarian standards.

The Palestinian people remain steadfast in their struggle for freedom, justice, and an end to the decades-long Israeli occupation of their homeland. (ILKHA)