Israeli forces on Thursday assaulted two Palestinian children, age 6 and 8, in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron, according to local sources.
The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that the gun-toting soldiers beat two brothers, aged 6 and 8, both members of al-Rajabi family, as the children were on their way to a store in central Hebron.
After assaulting the children, the Israeli soldiers detained them at the army checkpoint south of Ibrahimi Mosque, without notifying their parents or any relatives.
The uncle of the two children, Kifah Rajabi, told the news reporters that the soldiers prevented him approaching the checkpoint to check on the condition of his nephews, who had been beaten by the soldiers.
The city of Hebron, which houses the Ibrahimi Mosque, is home to roughly 160,000 Palestinian Muslims and about 800 aggressive paramilitary Israeli settlers who live in compounds heavily guarded by Israeli troops.
Israel has expelled the only international monitors protecting Hebron’s Palestinians from 800 heavily guarded settlers.
