The family of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy shot dead by police in East Jerusalem while he held a firework have hit out after an Israeli minister branded him a “terrorist”.
Rami al-Halhouli was killed on Tuesday evening on the second night of Ramadan.
The teenager was a resident of the Shuafat refugee camp in Jerusalem, and died of his wounds in hospital.
Footage has been shared on social media of Rami holding the firework as it is lit before he runs forward while pointing it in the air. The video shows the teen being shot and falling to the ground as the firework goes off.
Israeli border police said in a statement that an officer had fired a single shot at a suspect who “endangered the forces while firing aerial fireworks in their direction”.
The statement added the suspect was “apprehended, arrested, and transferred for medical treatment”.
Police later said he died of his wounds.
Israel’s minister of national security, Ben Gvir, has praised the police officer who fired the shot that killed Rami, and said: “This is exactly how you should act against terrorists – with determination and precision.”
He added the officer was a “hero and a warrior” who had carried out an “exemplary job”.
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Members of the teen’s family spoke to the BBC and described their heartache at his killing.
His father Ali said: “A kid the age of 12, how is he a terrorist?
“He was fasting and he broke his fast and he went out afterwards and he was playing with the other kids. It is Ramadan, they set off fireworks. They were playing.”
His mother Rawia said: “I did not think anything too bad at first because there had been no clashes with the police or any demonstrations around, no sounds of gunshots or percussion grenades.
“Then I saw Rami’s body lying on the ground and I thought he had fallen down from the games the children were playing. When they turned his body, I saw the hole in his chest. The bullet was in his heart.
“Then I began to scream.”
Meanwhile, Israel has been condemned after a strike on a UN aid distribution centre in Rafah, Gaza killing one person and injuring dozens more.
The death toll in Gaza since Israel’s invasion in October is reported to have reached over 31,000.
