Palestinian baby dies in West Bank after Israel blocks urgent medical care

A four-month-old Palestinian boy has died after an Israeli military checkpoint west of Ramallah blocked access to urgent medical care, while elsewhere in the occupied West Bank, a 16-year-old boy was shot dead by Israeli forces.

Laila Ghannam, the governor of Ramallah and el-Bireh, said in a post on Facebook that doctors at the Arab Specialised Hospital had confirmed the death of Ahmad Marouf Zeid on Sunday evening after Israeli forces prevented his transfer to the hospital for more than an hour despite his critical medical condition.

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Ghannam said Israeli soldiers fired tear gas to stop Palestinians trying to pass through the checkpoint at the entrance to the village of Deir Ammar.

She said that what happened to Ahmad, the family’s only son, was “a stain on the conscience of humanity” and part of an Israeli policy that aims to obstruct Palestinians’ freedom of movement and access to healthcare, in violation of fundamental rights.

Israeli forces also shot dead a 16-year-old boy at the Qalandiya refugee camp near Ramallah, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Two other boys, both aged 14, were wounded in the incident on Sunday.

Violence has escalated in the West Bank since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza more than 1,000 days ago. Israeli forces and settlers have killed at least 1,087 Palestinians in the West Bank since October 2023, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Meanwhile, in Gaza, an Israeli drone targeted a crowd of Palestinians in  Omar al-Mukhtar Street in the ⁠heart of Gaza City on Sunday, killing at least two people, health officials said. Several others were wounded.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said that Israeli army violations of the “ceasefire” with Hamas, which came into effect in October, have killed 1,066 people and wounded 3,445 others.

The latest casualties bring the overall death toll from Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza since October 2023 to 73,090, with 173,550 others injured, the ministry added.