Palestinians mourn boy who died ‘of fear’ of Israeli troops

A throng of males clutching the physique of a 7-year-old Palestinian boy marched by means of a city within the occupied West Bank towards the kid’s last resting place on Friday, a day after his dad and mom say he died from concern of Israeli troopers.

Rayan Suleiman, with vibrant eyes and a backpack emblazoned with an animated race automotive, was strolling dwelling from college on Thursday when his household says he and his brothers had been chased by Israeli troopers. After the boys bolted dwelling, the troops banged furiously on the door and threatened to arrest the kids, their dad and mom say. Just moments later, Rayan, the youngest of the three brothers, was useless.

The story shot throughout the occupied West Bank, offering an emotive focus for fury over Israel’s navy techniques and what Palestinians contend is their victimization by the Israeli occupation. The Israeli military known as the dying a tragedy and stated its troopers had been to not blame.

Heavily armed Israeli troopers routinely arrest Palestinian kids within the West Bank, the place almost half 1,000,000 Israeli settlers dwell on land that Palestinians need for a future unbiased state.

Rayan’s dying additionally struck a nerve with Palestinian dad and mom. Fear for his or her kids’s security and the dread of troopers knocking on the door are a part of day by day life beneath an entrenched Israeli navy rule that’s now in its 56th 12 months.

“He was just an innocent boy, just 7 years old, what can he do?” Yasser Suleiman, Rayan’s father, advised The Associated Press exterior the hospital morgue on Friday, choking again tears.

The State Department demanded an investigation. The European Union stated it was “shocked” by Rayan’s “tragic death.” UN Mideast envoy Tor Wennesland stated he was “saddened” and known as for an instantaneous probe. Photographs of Rayan’s tiny, lifeless physique beneath a sheet within the hospital turned a potent new image in a single day, threatening to gasoline already heightened tensions only a day after the deadliest Israeli raid because the navy escalated its crackdown on the West Bank earlier this 12 months.

The US State Department has known as on Israel to open a “thorough” investigation into the mysterious dying of the boy, who collapsed and died shortly after Israeli troopers got here to his dwelling within the occupied West Bank. (AP)

And like many such incidents within the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian battle, his dying has sparked competition. The Israeli navy has denied any violence within the interplay with Rayan’s household, saying that only one officer got here to the household’s home after recognizing kids throwing stones. Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, a navy spokesman, stated the officer spoke in a “very calm manner” with Rayan’s father and left.

“There was no violence, no entry into the house,” Hecht stated.

Rayan’s father stated his son collapsed after he noticed the Israeli troopers who chased him seem at his entrance door. Yasser Suleiman stated he was making an attempt to motive with the troopers, who accused his kids of throwing rocks. The troopers threatened to return at night time and arrest all three kids, together with Rayan’s older brothers, ages 8 and 10, Suleiman stated. Rayan tried to run away and fell on the ground, unconscious.

“He died of fear on the spot,” Suleiman stated.

Doctors at a hospital in Beit Jala, a Palestinian city south of Jerusalem, couldn’t resuscitate him. A pediatric specialist, Dr. Mohamed Ismail, stated Rayan was wholesome and had no earlier medical circumstances.

“The most probable scenario of what happened is that under stress, he had excess adrenaline secretion, which caused the increase of his heart beat,” Ismail stated. “He developed cardiac arrest.”

7-year outdated Palestinian boy, Rayan Suleiman, killed after being chased by IDF troops in Bethlehem.

This title, and face, received’t make the headlines. #RayanSuleiman pic.twitter.com/u3lzA4vgRZ

— Khaled Beydoun (@KhaledBeydoun) September 29, 2022

A forensic physician is presently conducting an post-mortem on Rayan. Until the physician makes his dedication, no dying certificates will probably be issued.

In the meantime on Friday, mourners thronged his physique exterior his stone home in Tequa, a Palestinian city that borders an Israeli settlement with some 4,000 residents. They kissed his head and ft, shrouded in a Palestinian flag. “God is great!” they shouted, some jogging to remain forward of his small physique on the wood pallet. “Oh Rayan, light of the eye!”

At the Suleiman home on Friday afternoon, girls wept and wailed over Rayan’s mattress, displayed within the household’s courtyard alongside along with his English college books. His mom was crumpled over, inconsolably crying and calling out for her son.  Extended household with watery eyes milled about in mourning.

Rayan’s aunt, who was dwelling on the time of the incident, stated even she was terrified when Israeli troopers burst into the house. She stated they handed her a paper in Hebrew she couldn’t learn and yelled, ‘We want the boys, where are the boys?’”

“The kids are always in danger, from settlers from the army, on their way back from school,” stated Rayan’s aunt, who gave her title as Umm Ali, noting that troopers generally patrol a verdant shortcut that children take from college to their properties. “Rayan is not the first one, he is only the latest.”His brothers are refusing to go to highschool once more out of concern, she added.

Palestinians have seized on Rayan’s dying as the most recent Israeli provocation as lethal violence rises within the West Bank.

Following a surge of Palestinian assaults inside Israel final spring that killed 19 Israelis, the Israeli navy has carried out virtually nightly raids into cities and cities to arrest suspects. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed, making 2022 the deadliest in seven years.

Human rights teams say that throughout the West Bank, Palestinian kids dwell beneath fixed risk of violence. Under Israeli navy legislation, Palestinian kids aged 12 and above can go to jail for six months. Israel arrests a whole lot of youngsters throughout night time raids annually, bundling them handcuffed and blindfolded into armored automobiles for interrogation, reported Israeli human rights group, HaMoked.

“That’s hugely traumatizing for the teenage kids being arrested and for their mothers and fathers,” stated Jessica Montell, govt director of HaMoked. “In this case, it was fatally traumatizing for this little boy.”

After Rayan’s funeral, small crowds of younger males cursed and hurled rocks at Israeli armored automobiles rumbling by means of the streets of Tequa.