Israel says Palestinian toddler killed ‘unintentionally’
The father of the two-year-old boy called Israel’s initial investigation into his son’s murder a “cover-up.”
Seven-year-old Osama wakes up every night with nightmares about his younger brother’s death at the hands of Israeli forces earlier this month, a murder that Israeli forces say was “a mistake.”
The Israeli army said on Wednesday the “accidental” death of two-year-old Mohammed al-Tamimi occurred after a soldier mistakenly believed the Palestinian toddler and his father were gunmen fleeing after firing on the illegally occupied settlement of Neve Tzu in the West Bank.
“During the search, he spotted a suspicious vehicle and fired several shots into the air, in violation of orders,” the Israeli army said in a statement following an initial investigation.
“At the same time, a soldier stationed at a sentry station… identified two figures who got into a vehicle… thought they were the terrorists fleeing the scene and that they fired at him from within the vehicle. After obtaining permission from his commanding officer, the soldier fired several rounds at the vehicle,” the statement continued.
The statement continued that the only action that would be taken was to reprimand the soldier who fired into the air “in violation of orders” and that the military would “continue to learn and improve”.
On the way to a birthday party
Mohammed’s father, Haitham al-Tamimi, said that on June 2, the day of the incident, he was taking his son to a niece’s birthday party when bullets rained down on them from Israeli troops.
His mother, Marwa al-Tamimi, was nearby and heard the sound of gunfire.
“I ran outside to see what was going on,” Marwa previously told Al Jazeera.
“My husband yelled at the continuous firing while driving and said, ‘Hamoudi, Hamoudi’ [referring to his little son]’ added the distraught mother.
Haitham was also injured in the incident and taken to a hospital in Ramallah, while his son was transported by helicopter to Israel’s Sheba Hospital, where he died of his injuries five days later.
The family is still in shock over Mohammed’s death, with Haitham calling Israel’s initial investigation into it a “cover-up”.
“Of course we weren’t expecting justice, but this report feels like a crime on top of the original crime to us,” he said.
“Is this all they have to say when my son is murdered in cold blood? When his life was cut off before I could discover what kind of person he had become.
Hundreds of Palestinian mourners gathered in Ramallah last week to bury the toddler.
If the Israeli army decides to open a criminal investigation, the soldiers involved could suffer the consequences.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry has claimed responsibility for the death, declaring the incident a crime.
Tensions in the West Bank are high as Israel has expanded its territory almost nightly military raids in the occupied territory under the most right-wing government ever.
Israeli forces have killed at least 158 Palestinians since early 2023, including 26 children, according to the Wafa news agency.
The death toll also includes 36 Palestinians killed by the Israeli army during a four-day assault on the besieged Gaza Strip from May 9 to 13.
More than 700,000 Israelis live in settlements in the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, which Israel captured during the 1967 war.