Palestinian teenage girl another victim to intl. inaction to hold Israel to account: Foreign Ministry
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry says the fatal shooting of a teenage girl by Israeli military forces during a raid in the northern occupied West Bank city of Jenin was the outcome of the international community’s failure to hold the Tel Aviv regime accountable for its crimes against the Palestinian nation, especially children.
“The State of Palestine condemns in the strongest terms Israel’s ongoing crimes and deliberate killings of Palestinian minors, including the latest murder of 16-year-old Jana Majdi Zakarneh by a sniper in Jenin while she was on the roof of her house,” the ministry said in a statement.
The statement added, “Jana is another victim of the international community’s failure to hold Israel accountable for its ongoing and escalating crimes. The occupying regime’s targeting of Palestinian children in their homes, at schools, and on streets is systematic and widespread, and is aimed at intimidating the minors and their families and spreading insecurity within the Palestinian society.”
“Palestine reiterates that the list of shame remains the most powerful tool of accountability and an effective deterrent to guarantee child protection. Therefore, we call on the United Nations secretary-general [Antonio Guterres] to immediately blacklist Israeli occupation troops and settler militia forces, and hold Israel fully accountable for its crimes against Palestinian children. Israel’s escape from consequences of its crimes undermines the protection of children worldwide,” the Palestinian Foreign Ministry pointed out.
“We call on the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court [Karim Ahmad Khan] to urgently and effectively investigate Israel’s killing of Jana and many others as Palestinian children continue to be targeted by the occupying Israeli regime. We also urge all relevant institutions, international officials and governments to openly reject and confront such crimes. Palestinian children are entitled to basic human rights, namely protection, health, dignity and peace. They are not an exception to these universal rules,” the ministry highlighted.
On Monday, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh called on the United Nations to place the Israeli regime on its secretary-general’s annual “list of shame” for violations against children, after Israeli troops fatally shot Zakarneh in Jenin.
During a meeting with the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba, in Ramallah, Shtayyeh denounced the Palestinian teenager’s killing as another crime to be added to the long list of horrifying crimes committed by Israeli forces against Palestinian children.
Israeli forces have recently been conducting overnight raids and killings in the northern occupied West Bank, mainly in the cities of Jenin and Nablus, where new groups of Palestinian resistance fighters have been formed.
Since the start of 2022, Israeli troops have killed more than 210 Palestinians, including more than 50 children, in the occupied West Bank and East al-Quds as well as the besieged Gaza Strip.
According to the United Nations, the number of Palestinians killed by Israel in the occupied West Bank this year is the highest in 16 years.
Local and international rights groups have condemned Israel’s excessive use of force and “shoot-to-kill policy” against Palestinians.
