Jailed at 14, Shot Dead at 17: The Story of Obaida Jawabra’s Childhood Under Israeli Occupation

Israeli forces shot and killed Obaida Jawabra, a 17-year-old boy, earlier this week in the al-Arroub refugee camp located near the occupied West Bank city of Hebron.

Obaida was shot in the chest, and witnesses say Israeli soldiers blocked an ambulance from reaching the teenager. He was taken to a local hospital by private car and later pronounced dead.

Obaida, who was arrested by Israeli soldiers multiple times and featured in a 2019 short film, Obaida, about Israeli soldiers detaining Palestinian children, is at least the fourth Palestinian teenager shot dead by soldiers in the occupied West Bank this year.

The killing of Obaida Jawabra “shows the brutality of the Israeli army when they target these children,” says Palestinian writer and researcher Mariam Barghouti. “Obaida — and I say this with complete sorrow — is just one name in a long list of many.”

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