The Palestinian news agency Wafa, citing the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), reports that a two-year-old girl has been shot in the head during an Israeli raid on Muthalath Ash-Shuhada/ Martyr's Triangle, a village south of the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.

According to her family, they were eating dinner at home when the gunfire started. It was around 8 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 25, and Israeli soldiers had entered their village of Muthalath Al-Shuhada, located near Jenin in the occupied West Bank. Suddenly Israeli sniper lasers appeared inside the house, and bullets were suddenly fired directly at them. She was her mother’s only child, as her father had passed away when she was still an infant.

The PRCS is reported to have added that its crews had transferred the injured child to a hospital for treatment.

Around 22:20, Palestinian Ministry of Health : "The child Laila Al-Khatib (two and a half years old) died of critical wounds after being shot in the head by the occupation forces in the Martyrs' Triangle in Jenin."

Testimony of Bassam Assous, the Leila grand-father:

(source)

“The windows and shutters were closed — we had no idea what was going on outside until we heard shooting very close by,” Assous and his wife, Ghada, quickly moved away from the windows, while their two daughters, Shaimaa and Teema (the Leila's mother), hid in a bedroom with Teema’s 2-year-old daughter, Laila. Suddenly, Assous heard his daughters screaming. “I rushed to the bedroom with my wife; Shaimaa was holding Laila tightly, while Teema was screaming next to them,” he recounted. “I took hold of Laila, and my hands quickly became covered in blood. It was coming from her head — she had been hit with a bullet.” Carrying his granddaughter, bleeding and unconscious, Assous ran outside to the street only to find that it was full of Israeli soldiers and armored vehicles. “My wife screamed, ‘Why did you kill the girl? What did she do to you?’” he continued. “One of the soldiers, standing some distance away, responded, ‘Sorry.’ “I shouted back, ‘Why did you shoot her?’” Assous went on. “The soldiers pointed their weapons at me and told me not to come closer. My wife kept screaming, and one of the soldiers pointed to a spot 100 meters away and told her, ‘Go over there and wait for an ambulance.’” When the ambulance arrived, Ghada got in with Laila. Shaimaa, who had sustained shrapnel wounds from the shooting in her jaw and side, and Teema, who had shrapnel wounds in her right hand, also needed treatment. “I told the soldiers I wanted to go with my daughters, but they said, ‘No, you will come with us,’” Assous added. “The soldiers took me to my uncle’s house, where they had already detained four of his sons while my uncle and the rest of the family sat nearby,” he recounted. “I had no idea what was happening with my wife and daughters — we weren’t allowed to use our phones or even speak. When I insisted on calling, a soldier threatened to handcuff me. I remained detained like this until around 11:30 p.m. when the soldiers withdrew from the area. They didn’t arrest anyone or confiscate anything. “After the soldiers left, neighbors came to check on us,” Assous went on. “That’s when I learned that Leila had passed away, as they began offering their condolences. I was in shock, but I quickly realized I had to appear strong for my daughter Teema, who broke down in tears and couldn’t comprehend the loss of her child. I took her to a nearby medical center, where she was given sedatives.” Assous explained that Teema — who is a master’s student at An-Najah University in Nablus, specializing in environmental and water engineering — had already lost her husband, Mohammad Al-Khatib, two years ago in a workplace accident. “She had been struggling with the trauma of losing her husband, so I brought her and her daughter to live with us at home,” he explained. “She used to say, ‘I just want to raise my daughter and take care of her.’ Now, she keeps asking me, ‘Why did they kill my daughter? What did this little child do to deserve this?’”

Israeli Army statement

In response to +972’s inquiry, a spokesperson for the Israeli army said it “regrets any harm caused to uninvolved civilians,” and claimed it had received intelligence about terrorists barricading themselves inside a building in the village. According to the spokesperson, soldiers warned everyone inside “multiple times” to exit before opening fire. Assous denied hearing any such warning.

Context :

Israeli special Israeli occupying forces barged their way into the village and besieged a house, earlier in the evening. They deployed snipers around the house and ordered the occupants to come out via loudspeakers, triggering confrontations. A woman sustained an injury to the hand from live ammunition fired by Israeli soldiers. She also was injured in the head by bullet shrapnel.

Name of the young martyr :

• Laila Muhammad Al-Khatib

The holes left by Israeli army bullets in the window of his family's home