Jerusalem: The Palestinian Ministry of Health on Thursday announced the death of a 7-year-old boy after he fell from a height while being chased by Israeli soldiers in the town of Tekoa, southeast of Bethlehem in the West Bank, Shehab News Agency reported.
The victim was identified as Rayan Yasser Ali Suleiman, a 2nd-grader at Al-Khansa School in the Bethlehem district.
The ministry said in a statement that, Rayan passed away in Beit Jala Governmental Hospital, “All attempts to revive the child’s heart failed after he fell from a height, while he was being chased by the occupation forces in the town of Tekoa.”
The Palestinian News Agency Wafa quoted a security source as saying that the occupation soldiers targetted school students in the “Khirbet al-Deir” area in Tekoa, while they were returning to their homes, which led to the child’s heart-stopping, and he was subsequently transferred to the hospital.
Earlier in the day, a number of teachers and students were also injured when the Israeli occupation forces stormed a school in the southern area of Hebron. The forces arrested two students from their classrooms and later released them.
US State Department deputy spokesman Vidant Patel said the US called for a “thorough and immediate” investigation after the killing of a 7-year-old Palestinian boy.
The incident of the martyrdom of Rayan sparked outrage among the pioneers of the communication sites, who described the incident as a “heinous crime”, considered it a violation of children’s rights and questioned the danger that Rayan posed to the occupation soldiers to pursue him on his return from school.
The name of the martyr, #Ryan_Soliman, became a hashtag on communication platforms, and Twitteratis demanded that his story be published on the widest scale.
15 Palestinian children were martyred by the Israeli occupation army’s bullets in the first half of this year, according to a report issued by the National Gathering of Families of Palestine Martyrs.
