EU calls for investigation into seven-year-old Palestinian boy’s death

JERUSALEM, The European Union today called for a swift and full investigation into the death of a seven-year-old Palestinian boy on Thursday, after his father said he had died of heart failure while being chased by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank.

Rayyan Yaser Suleiman was coming home from school with other pupils in the village of Tuqu when troops gave chase, and he died on the spot from fear, his father Yasser said.

Earlier, Palestinian health officials said Rayyan had died on Thursday after falling from a significant height while running away from Israeli soldiers.

A medical official who inspected the boy’s body told Reuters that it bore no sign of physical trauma and that the death appeared consistent with heart failure.

“Shocked by the tragic death of 7 years old, Rayyan Suleiman, yesterday during ISF activities in Taqoa village in the occupied West Bank,” the Office of the EU Representative in the West Bank, the Gaza strip and UNRWA said in a press statement while extending heartfelt condolences to his family.

“Under international law, children enjoy special protection,” it added while stressing that “the circumstances of this incident must be swiftly and fully investigated by Israeli authorities in order to bring the perpetrators to justice.”

Israeli forces have carried out dozens of violent raids in the occupied West Bank in recent months, killing more than 80 Palestinians so far this year, and injuring hundreds.

 

Source: Palestine News & Info Agency

RECENT POSTS