TULKAREM (Palestine Foundation Information Center) A 10-year-old Palestinian child, who was shot recently by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) in his waist in Tulkarem, was pronounced dead on Friday evening.
Saddam Rajab succumbed to his wounds around 8:00 p.m. on Friday at Al-Istishari Hospital in Ramallah, 10 days after an Israeli soldier deliberately opened fire at him as he was standing outside his grandfather’s house.
The kid was shot by an Israeli soldier at around 6:10 p.m. on January 28 during an IOF raid into Tulkarem refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank.
According to Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP), Saddam is the 12th Palestinian child killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank in 2025. Seven children were killed by Israeli drone strikes and five children were shot and killed with live ammunition.
According to information collected by DCIP, Israeli forces attacked Saddam’s father as he attempted to carry him to receive medical aid, and after paramedics placed him in an ambulance, soldiers detained his father for about an hour. After three hours of surgery at the Thabet Thabet Hospital, doctors referred Saddam to the Rafidia Hospital in Nablus, and during the transfer Israeli forces prevented the ambulance from transporting Saddam for a while. As Israeli soldiers held up the ambulance, one soldier told Saddam’s father, “I am the one who shot your son. God willing, he will die.”
“Israeli forces have utter contempt for Palestinian children’s lives as they deliberately target children with live ammunition with no accountability,” Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP, said.
“This deliberate obstruction of medical aid reflects the Israeli military’s routine disregard for the protections afforded to medical personnel and infrastructure under international law, often intentionally targeting these entities and rendering essential health resources for Palestinian children ineffective,” Abu Eqtaish added.
“Saddam sustained a gunshot wound to his waist that exited from his chest. The bullet tore through his intestines and injured the pancreas and other vital organs in the abdomen,” DCIP affirmed.
