Human Rights and Democracy Media Center- SHAMS, condemns the crime of executing the Palestinian Child (Rami Al Halhouli- 13 years old), in Shufaat Refugee Camp- Jerusalem, on Tuesday, 12/3/2024, evening. The child was shot dead while playing with some of his peers in their residential place. The Israeli soldiers, in one of the well-structured military towers close to the place, shot him directly and then arrested him while bleeding; and his death was declared later on.
The Center asserts that the crime of murdering the child Al Halhouli reflects the policy of killing and criminality applied by the Israeli army based on a systematic official Israeli policy to kill the maximum possible number of Palestinians. The Center affirms that the Israeli crimes against Palestinian children stand as a profound violation of international law and international humanitarian law. In particular, Israel is violating the Geneva Fourth Convention (dated 12/8/1949), which affirms protecting children and neutralizing them in times of war and armed conflicts. Children are granted protection within the Convention for being civilians and being groups that are not involved in military acts. Additionally, the occupation violates the International Convention on Child Rights (1989), which affirms children’s right to growth, enjoy all their rights, and ensures that any party does not attack them.
SHAMS Center deplores the international and regional silence in front of the crimes of the Israeli occupation against Palestinian children. At the time, the Israeli occupation is proceeding with genocide crimes against civilians and children in the Gaza Strip, the killing and torturing of Palestinian children in the West Bank and Jerusalem. These crimes are committed while there is an international and regional stance that supports the occupation in some cases while standing careless in others. Such a stance reveals the double standards applied by some countries in dealing with human rights issues.
SHAMS Center calls on the United Nations Secretary-General, the Special United Nations Rapporteur on Human Rights, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Kids and Armed Conflicts, UNICEF, and the International Commission of the Red Cross, to meet their legal and moral responsibilities and obligate the occupation’s state to halt its daily crimes against Palestinians. The Center urges establishing an official investigation committee to investigate the crimes of murder, violence, and torturing, committed by the Israeli army and settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank.