B’Tselem: Last year, Israel killed largest number of Palestinians in West Bank since 2004 

In 2022, Israeli occupation forces killed the largest number of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since 2004, Israeli rights group B’Tselem said yesterday.

Some 146 Palestinians were killed last year across the occupied West Bank, the rights group said.

It also stated that five women and 34 minors were among those killed by Israel, adding that the youngest was 12 years old.

The Israeli rights group also stated that seven of the Palestinians killed by Israeli occupation forces in 2022 were 50 years old or older, and the eldest was 78.

“Israeli civilians killed five Palestinians, including one minor. Three other Palestinians, including a minor, were killed in incidents in which both Israeli forces and Israeli civilians participated, and it cannot be determined who killed them.”

In 2022, B’Tselem said, Israeli occupation forces “killed the most Palestinian minors in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) since 2004.”

The group counted “34 children and teenagers ranging in age from 12 through 17 years old,” including 16-year-old Nader Rayan who “was shot in the back while fleeing police officers who continued to shoot him even after he fell.”

“These figures illustrate Israel’s reckless open-fire policy in the occupied territories, which grew deadlier over the last year.”

“Every Palestinian is ‘suspect’ and any risk posed to Israeli forces – real or imagined – is met with lethal gunfire.”

Adding that this “regime also works to ensure that no one will be held accountable for these killings: the forces who pulled the trigger, the commanders who gave the order, the legal advisors who authorised the open-fire policy, or the military and political echelons that shape it.”

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