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Israeli Forces Kill Two Palestinian Teens in West Bank as Annexation Moves Intensify
Israeli forces kill two Palestinian teens near Bethlehem. Death toll in West Bank hits 948 since Oct 7, including 204 children. Knesset’s annexation motion draws global condemnation.
ND
by News Desk
2025-07-24
Israeli Forces Kill Two Palestinian Teens in West Bank as Annexation Moves Intensify

Israeli forces killed two Palestinian teenagers in the town of al-Khader, south of Bethlehem, early Thursday morning, amid escalating violence across the occupied West Bank.

According to the Wafa news agency, 15-year-old Ahmad Ali Asaad Ashira al-Salah and 17-year-old Muhammad Khaled Alian Issa were shot dead by Israeli troops at dawn. The Israeli military has withheld their bodies. Two more children were reportedly wounded in the incident.

The killings come as Israeli forces carried out sweeping arrest raids across the West Bank, detaining at least 25 Palestinians. Arrests were made in multiple towns, including Beit Ummar, Idhna, Dura al-Qari, Ramallah, al-Mazraa ash-Sharqiya, and Nablus.

Since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, violence in the West Bank has intensified dramatically. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), at least 948 Palestinians, including 204 children, have been killed by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank.

In the first half of 2025 alone, more than 2,200 Israeli settler attacks have been reported, leading to over 5,200 injuries. Nearly 36,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced due to military operations, settler violence, or home demolitions.

Analysts and rights groups say settler violence, often carried out with the support of Israeli soldiers, is part of a broader strategy to expel Palestinians and prevent the establishment of a future Palestinian state.

"We are talking about more than 700,000 armed settlers acting as a parallel army," said Amjad Abu El Ezz, a lecturer in international relations at the Arab American University in Ramallah. He accused Israel of weakening the Palestinian Authority and destroying Palestinian communities “to build facts on the ground.”

In a controversial political move, Israel’s parliament on Wednesday approved a symbolic motion to annex the occupied West Bank, voting 71-13 in favor of applying Israeli sovereignty to the territory.

While non-binding, the motion was pushed forward by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition and signals a renewed push toward annexation.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry called the vote “colonial and racist,” while the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement labeled it a “dangerous escalation,” accusing Israel of pursuing a “criminal plan” to erase Palestinian claims to the land.

The West Bank, along with Gaza and East Jerusalem, has remained under Israeli occupation since 1967. Settlement expansion has continued in defiance of international law.

 
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