The Terrorist Zionist Entity has Made the West Bank a Graveyard for Children, as in Gaza, While the Armies of the Muslim Lands Watch On

News:

On the 7th of February, Save the Children reported that at least 224 children have been killed in the West Bank by Zionist forces or settlers since January 2023, the youngest just 2 years old. According to the UN, 171 children were killed in the West Bank since 7th October 2023 – equivalent to almost 1 every other day. No Zionist soldier has been charged or held accountable for these murders. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs stated that there has been a 20-fold increase in the number of Palestinian children killed by airstrikes of the Jewish entity in the West Bank in recent years. Defense for Children International Palestine (DCIP) reported that 10-year old Saddam Hussein Iyad Mohammad Rajab was shot in the abdomen during an incursion into Tulkarem by the occupation on the 28th January and is now in critical condition in a Nablus hospital. Zionist forces also attacked Saddam’s father, beating and punching him as he tried to carry his son to receive medical aid. During transfer between hospitals, occupation soldiers held up the ambulance that Saddam had been placed in, with one telling his father, “I am the one who shot your son. God willing, he will die.” On the 26th January, 2-year old Laila Al-Khatib was shot in the head by occupation sniper fire while she was in her own home in the village of Al-Shuhada, south of Jenin. And on the 1st of February, it was reported that 16-year old Ahmad al-Sadi was amongst 5 Palestinians killed by a Zionist airstrike that hit a group of people on a street in Jenin. Later, an occupation drone strike hit a car in Qabatiya, killing 2 youths, and minutes after, another drone strike in Jenin killed 2 more youth who were on a motorcycle.

Comment:

Just days after the ceasefire was announced in Gaza, the murderous Zionist entity launched its “Iron Wall” campaign with deadly raids in Jenin, Tulkarem, Nablus and other towns in the West Bank, in which children were a valid target for occupation forces, as they were in Gaza. Indeed, this brutal occupation has been allowed to slaughter children and babies with utter impunity, with no government or state stepping in to stop this wanton killing. Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP, stated, “Israeli forces have utter contempt for Palestinian children’s lives as they deliberately target children with live ammunition with no accountability.” All this is of course alongside the continuing and notorious arrests, detention and systematic torture of children in Zionist prisons which has been ongoing for decades. It is clear that the UN’s convention on the rights of the child and all international laws on the protection of children are null and void when it comes to Palestinian children!

The terrorist Zionist occupation is replicating in the West Bank what it did in Gaza almost verbatim – with mass killings, arbitrary detentions, leveling of residential blocks, detonation of houses and destruction of vital infrastructure, causing tens of thousands to be displaced from their homes. In 2024, Zionist forces conducted 152 air strikes in the West Bank. Jenin's mayor, Mohammad Jarrar, stated, "The Israeli army forced about 15,000 residents of the camp to evacuate. They have demolished, burned, and blown up more than 100 homes since the operation began... There has also been widespread bulldozing of streets and destruction of water, electricity, sewage, and communication networks," adding "What is new in this military operation is the mass displacement of Jenin camp residents.” In addition, a new report by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) described the healthcare system in the West Bank as being in “a state of perpetual emergency” since October 2023, and that “A dramatic escalation in violence, marked by prolonged Israeli military incursions and stricter movement restrictions...have severely hindered access to essential services, particularly healthcare, exacerbating already dire living conditions for many Palestinians.”

It is clear, that the Zionist occupation, aided and abetted by the US government, aims to not only displace the population of Gaza from their land, but to also annex the rest of Palestine to its criminal entity. We ask those in the Muslim armies, who have the power to uproot this occupation and end this genocide and ethnic cleansing – how can they watch on while the whole of Palestine becomes a graveyard for its children? How can they remain in their barracks while they watch Al Aqsa and the land of Al-Isra wal Miraj being defiled day after day and their Palestinian brothers and sisters being slaughtered and chased out of their homes? What will they say to their Rabb (swt) when He asks them why they abandoned their Ummah and the Blessed Land of Al Aqsa?

What response do they have to the Words of Allah (swt),

[يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ مَا لَكُمْ إِذَا قِيلَ لَكُمُ انفِرُواْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللّهِ اثَّاقَلْتُمْ إِلَى الأَرْضِ أَرَضِيتُم بِالْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا مِنَ الآخِرَةِ فَمَا مَتَاعُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا فِي الآخِرَةِ إِلاَّ قَلِيلٌ]

“O believers! What is the matter with you that when you are asked to march forth in the Cause of Allah, you cling firmly to your land? Do you prefer the life of this world over the Hereafter? The enjoyment of this worldly life is insignificant compared to that of the Hereafter.” [At-Taubah: 38].

O sons of the Muslim armies! What is it that you are waiting for before you move to the defense of your brothers, sisters and children of Palestine? Have you not seen that there is no government, state or leader today that has the political will to protect the lives of the Muslims whether in Palestine, Kashmir, Myanmar or elsewhere? Have you not witnessed how these rulers and regimes that you serve only dance to the tune played by their western masters, including protecting the Zionist entity with their normalization and peace agreements? Is it not clear that Palestine will never be liberated and its people protected unless these treacherous regimes are uprooted and replaced with the Islamic leadership of the System of Allah (swt), the Khilafah state – the guardian and shield of the Muslims as described by our Messenger (saw)? So, we call you to not delay any longer and to give your Nussrah (material support) for the establishment of this noble Khilafah state that will mobilise you without delay to uproot this cancerous occupation for good, protect your Ummah and return the authority and light of Islam to this Blessed Land!

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Asma Siddiq
Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir