Two Palestinian boys aged 8 and 15 are among four people shot dead as Israeli forces launch raid in occupied West Bank, local officials say: IDF says ‘two high-ranking terrorists’ died in operation

• WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT 
• CCTV footage shows the boys being shot in the city of Jenin on Wednesday

CCTV footage shows the moment two Palestinian boys are shot dead in broad daylight during an Israeli raid in the West Bank, officials in the territory say.

The two children, named by the Palestinian health ministry as eight-year-old Adam al-Ghul and 15-year-old Bassem Abu el-Wafa, were allegedly killed by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) in the city of Jenin on Wednesday.

CCTV footage circulating online and on television news shows a boy being struck by a bullet and falling in the street, sending other children fleeing. 

Other images show a teenager also being hit by a bullet and falling, then appearing to call for help as more shots hit the ground around him and other people run for cover.

The teenager can be seen struggling on the ground in apparent agony for at least half a minute. 

CCTV footage shows the boy, circled in a red above, being shot during an Israeli military raid in Jenin

Red Crescent first aiders check the damage of a house in Jenin following the Israeli raid on Wednesday

Palestinians use a digger to clear rubble away from a building that was damaged in the incident

An official with the Palestinian Red Crescent told AFP that the boy and the teen had been on a side street of central Jenin’s main thoroughfare, an area theoretically off limits to the Israeli military as it is under the sole control of the Palestinian Authority.

The IDF said in a statement in a statement that during ‘activity in the Jenin camp, a number of suspects hurled explosive devices toward IDF soldiers’.

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‘The soldiers responded with live fire toward the suspects and hits were identified.’

It is not clear if this is referring to the boys in question, with CCTV footage of the shooting not appearing to show them throwing objects.

In the aftermath of the shooting footage showed the body of one of the children, Basel, being wrapped in a Hamas flag as he was prepared for burial in a crowded hospital morgue.

One relative of the child told the BBC it was not what Basel would have wanted, adding: ‘He’s innocent, not from the militias He’s perfect in school, a good boy, kind.’ 

The shooting took place amid a surge in activity in Jenin, with the IDF saying that during an overnight raid in the town’s refugee camp its troops ‘killed two high-ranking terrorists’.

The IDF reported these to be senior commander for Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Mohammed Zubeidi, and another called Wissam Hanoun who had been inside a building with him. 

Zubeidi was accused by the IDF of being involved in a pair of attacks that had left Israelis dead or injured in May. The Israeli military added it had arrested 17 wanted persons in the raid.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which is a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK, confirmed two of its local commanders were killed. 

Emergency services and Palestinians congregate outside a house damaged by fighting in Jenin

Masonry and rubble lie on the floor next to a damaged car following the raid in Jenin refugee camp

Israeli military vehicles travel in a single-file line as the convoy moves through Jenin during Wednesday’s raid

Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) infantry troops walk through the streets of Jenin in the Palestinian West Bank on Wednesday

A man peers out from a damaged house which has masonry, rubble and parts of the roof hanging in front of it following the raid

Palestinians inspect a bullet ridden wall of a building after the raid which Israel said killed two terrorist commanders in Jenin

The Red Crescent reported having provided aid to six Palestinians wounded by gunfire during the raid.

Photos taken in the aftermath show heavy damage to buildings and vehicles in the area of the raid, with emergency services and rescue works digging through rubble. 

Since the October 7 attack on Israel and its ensuing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, violence in the West Bank has flared, with nearly 240 Palestinians killed by either soldiers or Israeli settlers, according to the health ministry.

Also on Wednesday, the Israeli army arrested a 12-year-old boy in the Jalazone refugee camp in the West Bank city of Ramallah, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group said.

The boy would become the youngest Palestinian prisoner in Israeli detention, with nearly 200 women and males aged 18 or under released in recent days under an agreement pausing fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Mahmud Ghawanmeh, father of Karim Ghawanmeh, told AFP that via his brother, Israeli soldiers had summoned him to bring in his son.

‘I thought I would be with him for his interrogation, but the officer told me to go back home,’ he added, without specifying the accusations against his son.

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