“ .22 Long Rifle (Roger) weapon, is a deadly weapon used by the Israeli forces to suppress Palestinian marches and demonstrations and not a non-lethal method, as they claim," Defense for Children International - Palestine (DCI) confirmed.

last victim of this weapon that fires bullets known as "Toto" (0.22-inch diameter neighborhood bullets) is the child Ali Abu Alya (15) from the village of Mughayir, northeast of Ramallah who was killed on December 4, 2020, during clashes that broke out in the village,” Defense for Children International - Palestine added Tuesday in a statement reached Safa.

According to eyewitness testimonies collected about the incident, the child Abu Alya was shot in his abdomen from an estimated distance of only 50 meters, at about 12:30 p.m., after which he was transferred to the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah, where he underwent an operation lasted for about 5 hours.

“ The doctors told us that Ali was seriously injured, and the bullet had hit and cut major arteries, as a result of which he suffered from A very severe bleeding, and about 10 minutes after he was taken to the intensive care, he was declared a martyr,” the child's parents said.

Israel claimed that the soldier who shot and killed the child Abu Alya, was planning to shoot another young man, but the young man changed his movement at the last moment, which led to the injury of the child, and that the bullet he was hit was from a Roger rifle which has a very small diameter, and it is a tool to disperse demonstrations, and does not consider as live bullets.

“The Israeli claim that the child Abu Alya was shot by mistake was not the first of its kind regarding to the use of this type of weapon,” DCI confirmed.

DCI indicated that it had documented several cases of children who were wounded and killed by Roger rifle during the past years, including the case of the child Abd al-Rahman Ubaidullah from Aida refugee camp, north of Bethlehem, who was killed by the Israeli forces on 5 October 2015, after which Israel declared that the shooting of the was by mistake.

In addition, it referred to the death of Qusay Al-Amor(17) from the town of Tuqu, Bethlehem, who was killed, in front of the cameras, by the Israeli forces on 16 January 2017, during clashes that broke out in the town.

The eyewitness, who filmed the death of the child Al-Amor, said in his testimony that he heard a light sound of firing bullets for consecutive four times, adding that he had seen the Israeli soldiers in advance carrying a Roger rifle that fires Tutu bullets, and that what he heard was fired by it because the sound of firing was light, then the child Al-Amour fell to the ground and lost his last breath.

The medical report of the martyr Al-Amour stated that a copper-colored, non-deformed gun was found in his body that closely resembled the projectiles of LR22 caliber which was seized and handed over to the Public Prosecution.

“When a trained soldier shoots live bullets at a person and targets the upper parts of his body, this is considered an attempt to kill, and there is no room to talk about a mistake in shooting as the Israeli forces claim,” DCI stated.

DCI reiterated its confirmation that the policy of impunity and lack of accountability that the Israeli soldiers enjoys is what encourages them to continue their violations against the Palestinians especially children.

According to a previous report by the Israeli B'Tselem organization, the Israeli forces claim that they are using the Roger weapon as a non-lethal method to disperse the demonstrations. .

B'Tselem added, “the clear facts are about a lethal weapon, which the authorities falsely present as an available method to confront the demonstrations," and it demanded to stop using it immediately.

Even-though the international community always expresses its concern about the use of live ammunition by the Israeli forces, its use against unarmed Palestinian children during demonstrations is an increasing commonly in the West Bank, in contradiction to international laws and norms.

Reported, the Israeli forces have killed 8 children in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including Jerusalem, since the beginning of 2020.