Jenin / PNN /

The Israeli occupation forces killed the Palestinian child Raafat Omar Ahmad Khmeisah (15 years old) during their raid on Jenin camp on the evening of the 19th of this September, which coincided with Tuesday. Three other young men were also killed, and dozens were injured.

According to documentation by Defense the Children International Palestaine Movement the Israeli special units infiltrated the camp at around 7:30 PM that day, riding in three vehicles with Palestinian license plates. They stationed themselves in the central square of the camp.

The DCI movement  added that at that moment, the child Khmeisah, a resident of Jenin city, happened to be at his grandfather's house (his mother's father) in the camp. The house is located near the main eastern entrance to the camp, overlooking the square. When the child exited the house, he saw members of the Israeli special forces descending from the vehicles and surrounding the house of the citizen Hussein Ahmed Zaidan. He started running and shouting, warning of the presence of the special forces. One of the members of these forces pursued him and, from a distance of about ten meters, fired a bullet at him, hitting him in the middle of the abdomen and exiting from his chest, causing him to fall to the ground.

The "International Movement" indicated that the child Khmeisah attempted to rise after being injured, but he couldn't. Afterward, a citizen tried to approach him to help, but an Israeli special forces member fired towards him. The citizen threw himself onto the child and began rolling with him towards his house, which is approximately five meters away from the incident site.

It further stated that the citizen and his son carried the injured child Khmeisah into the house. He was still alive at that time, but he was unable to speak or move. Contact was made with the ambulance vehicles, but the occupation forces prevented them from reaching the camp square. The child Khmeisah remained in the house for about an hour and a half while bleeding, until the withdrawal of the occupation forces from the camp. It was announced after that he had succumbed to his injuries.

According to the initial medical report from Ibn Sina Specialized Hospital, where the child was transferred, Khmeisah arrived at the hospital unconscious, showing no signs of life. There was an entry wound in the middle of his abdomen and an exit wound from the upper right side of his chest. He was placed on artificial respiratory devices and underwent cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but he did not respond, and his death was announced.

With the martyrdom of the child Khmeisah, the number of child martyrs by the bullets of the Israeli occupation forces in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, rises to 46 (39 children in the West Bank and 7 in Gaza).