Israeli forces shot and killed 15-year-old Yamen Hamed Yousef Hamed on October 30 in Silwad in the central occupied West Bank. (Photo: Courtesy of the Hamed family)
Ramallah, November 1, 2025—Israeli forces shot and killed a 15-year-old Palestinian boy in the central occupied West Bank.
Yamen Hamed Yousef Hamed, 15, was shot and killed by Israeli forces around 10:30 p.m. on October 30 at the southern entrance to the Palestinian town of Silwad, northeast of Ramallah, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International – Palestine. Yamen and his friends were walking near the southern entrance, which has been closed for nearly two years by order of the Israeli forces after they erected earth mounds there. Yamen and his friends were surprised to find a group of Israeli soldiers hiding behind the earth mounds, after which they fired directly at the children with about ten bullets from a distance of 50 meters (164 feet) away.
Yamen Hamed was shot in the chest and immediately fell to the ground, bleeding for about half an hour, surrounded by Israeli occupation forces who opened fire and prevented residents and an ambulance from approaching him. Yamen’s father reported that he tried to reach the scene to check on his son, but soldiers prevented him from advancing and fired warning shots at him and the medical team to force them to retreat.
“Israeli soldiers know no bounds and kill Palestinian children with impunity,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “Palestinian children will continue to be targeted. They will continue to be unlawfully killed without actual justice and accountability.”
The ambulance managed to approach Yamen and pronounced him dead before his body was transferred to the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah. Upon arrival at the hospital, Yamen’s father reported that his son’s body showed clear signs of assault, including fractures in his fingers and toes, indicating he may have been subjected to torture, violence, or dragging while in the soldiers’ custody.
Israeli forces have killed 42 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank in 2025, according to documentation collected by DCIP. Investigations and evidence collected by DCIP regularly suggest that Israeli forces use lethal force against Palestinian children in circumstances that may amount to extrajudicial or wilful killings.