B'Tselem's June 2026 Report Documents Killing of 241 Palestinian Children and Teenagers in the Occupied West Bank

2025 was the deadliest year since 1967. The report documents that 54 minors were killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank in 2025 — the highest annual number since Israel began its occupation . This marks a steep escalation from 2024, when 92 children were killed, and from 2023, which saw 121 child deaths (most occurring after October 7) .

A Policy of Impunity: No Indictments Filed

B'Tselem explicitly characterizes the killings not as isolated incidents, but as the product of a systemic policy. Executive Director Yuli Novak stated, "The widespread, unprecedented killing of Palestinian children and teenagers in the West Bank is the result of a broader Israeli policy that enables the killing of Palestinians with virtually no accountability" .

This claim of zero accountability is supported by the Israeli rights group Yesh Din, which monitors military law enforcement. Yesh Din has stated that it is aware of no indictments being filed against any Israeli soldiers for killing Palestinian minors in the West Bank during this period . The lack of legal consequences echoes a broader concern: a June 2026 UN OCHA situation report quoted the UN Secretary-General warning of a "presumption of impunity" throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory .

Obstruction of Medical Care and Withholding of Bodies

The report details specific patterns of violence that go beyond the use of lethal force. B'Tselem identified 12 separate cases in 2025 in which children and teenagers were gravely wounded by gunfire and then left without medical care — sometimes for dozens of minutes — while Israeli forces prevented rescue workers and ambulances from reaching them .

In addition, the report documents cases where Israeli forces withheld the bodies of killed Palestinians, refusing to return them to their families . These practices are consistent with findings from the UN Human Rights Office, which documented that in at least 244 cases in the West Bank, Israeli security forces delayed or obstructed medical assistance to injured Palestinians .

The Connection to Gaza

B'Tselem states that the killings in the West Bank "cannot be separated" from Israel's broader military campaign in Gaza . The report draws a direct link to the war, where, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health and UN figures, over 21,000 Palestinian children have been killed since October 2023 .

A separate but simultaneous report from the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (released on June 23, 2026) reinforced this connection. It concluded that Israeli authorities deliberately targeted Palestinian children in Gaza, amounting to war crimes and genocide, and also identified war crimes in the West Bank . The UN Commission found that between October 7, 2023, and October 7, 2025, at least 20,179 children were killed in Gaza, constituting 30 percent of all fatalities — a higher proportion than in previous escalations .

A Decades-Long Trend

The current escalation follows a years-long increase in child fatalities in the West Bank. According to Al-Haq, a Palestinian rights group, annual child deaths in the West Bank rose sharply from 17 in 2021, to 36 in 2022, to 121 in 2023, and remained high at 92 in 2024 . B'Tselem's previous reporting had already noted that 2023 was the deadliest year on record for children in the West Bank, even before the October 7 attacks . The new report makes clear that 2025 has surpassed even that grim milestone .

International Legal and Humanitarian Context

The B'Tselem report enters a growing body of international documentation. A June 2026 UNICEF report warned of an "utter lack of accountability" in Gaza, where "90 per cent plus" of child killings were attributed to Israeli forces . The UN Commission of Inquiry report specifically cited the targeting of children as key evidence of genocidal intent by Israeli authorities .

While B'Tselem's findings focus on the West Bank, they are part of a broader pattern that international legal experts say raises grave questions under international humanitarian law. As one analysis noted, these reports "can have major consequences by adding to a growing record of international law evidence" .