On June 3, 2025,in the evening, the child Youssef Fouad Abdel Karim Faqha (14 years old) succumbed to his wounds after being shot by the Israeli Soldiers in Sinjil town, northeast of Ramallah.

He died of his wounds from Israeli occupation forces' bullets in the town of Sinjil, northeast of Ramallah.

To conceal their crime, Israeli occupation forces raided the home of Ayed Ghafri, near the area where the child was targeted, and erased the camera recordings.

"Our forces eliminated a terrorist who tried to throw stones" That's how the murder of 14-year-old Yousef Foqahaa is being framed by Netanyahu's propaganda channel.

Defense for Children investigation

• Yousef Fuad Abdulkarim Foqahaa, 14, was shot and killed when Israeli forces opened fire on him suddenly and without warning around 3 p.m. today at the northern entrance to the Palestinian town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah in the central occupied West Bank.

• Israeli forces fired toward Yousef from a distance of 20 to 30 meters (65 to 98 feet) away. Soldiers approached Yousef after he was shot, stripped off his clothes, and prevented anyone from reaching him.

• About 40 minutes later, an Israeli military ambulance arrived and took Yousef to an unknown location. (...) Israeli authorities are withholding Yousef’s body.

• Since Israeli authorities confiscated Yousef’s body, DCIP is not able to verify the location or number of bullet wounds that Yousef sustained.

• Two hours later, the Israeli military announced Yousef’s death, claiming he was throwing stones and bottles containing dangerous material, an allegation rejected by eyewitnesses who affirmed there were no clashes or confrontations at the time Yousef was shot.

-After shooting Yousef, Israeli forces raided a nearby house that had surveillance cameras and deleted footage of the attack.

• Israeli forces destroyed evidence of their attack on Yousef and transported his body to an unknown location, withholding it from his family,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “Even in death, Palestinian children are not safe from Israeli soldiers. We demand that Israeli authorities return Yousef’s body to his family immediately.”

Impunity of Israel

Israeli forces have killed 28 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank in 2025, according to documentation collected by DCIP. Under international human rights law, lethal force may only be used when strictly unavoidable to protect life, yet, Israeli forces continue to target children with deliberate, unlawful killings.

Israel is the only country in the world with such a policy of confiscating human remains.

Israeli forces have withheld the bodies of at least 51 Palestinian children since June 2016, according to documentation collected by DCIP. Six of the children’s bodies have since been released to their families, while 45 Palestinian children’s bodies remain withheld by Israeli authorities. Israel’s practice of withholding Palestinian bodies is a form of collective punishment, a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, and deprives Palestinian families of the ability to lay their children to rest.

In September 2019, the Israeli Supreme Court approved the practice of confiscating human remains after several legal challenges to the policy. On November 27, 2019, Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett ordered all bodies of Palestinians alleged to have attacked Israeli citizens or soldiers to be withheld and not returned to their families.