They were supposed to be safe.Limited time: Save 25% on NBC News subscriptionGet exclusive reporting, live Q&As and ad-free reading.Bahaa Abu al-Ajeen was walking his 3-year-old son, Rayan, back to the tarpaulin-covered shack they called home, a makeshift dwelling providing some shelter from the sun on a war-ruined farm in central Gaza.The pair walked in what was designated as a safe area for civilians close to the “yellow line,” a boundary marked with yellow blocks and flags that divides Palestinian-controlled parts of Gaza from areas under Israeli military control.But al-Ajeen, 38, said that as they were confronted by Israeli soldiers, he froze.“At that moment, I did not know whether to move forward or backward,” he said.
As Rayan began screaming, al-Ajeen, whose family has long farmed in the area, picked up his son and began walking again.That’s when the soldiers fired what the Israeli military later described as “warning” shots.The third shot struck Rayan in the head, al-Ajeen told NBC News from al-Aqsa Hospital on June 15, a day after the incident.“After that, they shot at me, as well.”Add NBC News to GoogleIsraeli strikes in Gaza kill at least nine Palestinians00:42Al-Ajeen tried to call for an ambulance, but, he said, the soldiers took his phone and dragged him beyond the yellow line, still carrying Rayan, who was bleeding on his chest.“I told them: ‘The child is dying.
You killed him in cold blood,’” he said.“‘What has this child done wrong?’”“No medical assistance whatsoever” was provided to his dying son, he said, and it was hours in detention before the gunshot wound to his own leg was treated.Rayan’s death is the latest in a series of child killings feeding scrutiny over Israel’s treatment of Palestinian children.
A United Nations report this month alleged that Israel has deliberately targeted children, resulting in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, ...