West Bank violence: ‘My child’s destiny was to get killed’

Samah and Amr were filming themselves on a spring day. They walk around the garden of the family home. In the background, their mother Salam is burning leaves and grass. The scene is emblematic of a close family that has lived in the same place for generations.

Now Samah is in mourning for her brother. Amr Najjar grew up in Burin, in the north of the occupied West Bank. The village is overlooked by Jewish settlements - regarded as illegal under international law. Since 7 October, when the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza began, tensions across the West Bank have surged.

More than 400 Palestinians have been killed - 107 of them children. In Burin, the threat of settler violence is relentless, say villagers. It has been condemned by the United States, which has imposed sanctions on settler leaders. Human rights groups in Israel and the West Bank allege a long pattern of violence enabled by the Israel Defence Forces.

The army denies this. It was around 16:30, his father Mohammed recalls. They were to get some groceries and pick up a phone that was being repaired. He didn’t move at all, and stopped the car with his children inside it.

At the time, there was no one around. There were not even people throwing rocks. The UN says a Palestinian man who tried to help Amr was also shot and wounded. The video footage of the aftermath gives a glimpse into the traumatic experience of those who were present.

All of this was witnessed by Amr’s brother Ahmed, aged seven. Human rights groups in the West Bank and Israel say the military has a long history of using unnecessary lethal force. Israeli group B‘Tselem says Israel has continued to implement a lethal open-fire policy in West Bank. The circumstances of the incident are under review.

Of the almost 400 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since 7 October, many did not pose a threat of the level that would justify the use of lethal force. The IDF says it has been responding to a surge in terrorist attacks. It also says the military complies with international law. The family of Amr Najjar have no expectation of justice.

Instead his father, Mohammed, talks of retribution. They have occupied us, killed us and raped our land… there is no peace at all. We don’t think about it.

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