Israeli soldiers shot a Palestinian boy and stood around as he bled to death, video shows

This story contains details and video that some readers may find distressing.

Last November, a 14-year-old Palestinian boy named Jad Jadallah was shot at close range by Israeli soldiers in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

As Jad lay collapsed in an alley, the soldiers created a cordon around him and blocked two Palestinian ambulances from reaching him.

According to video footage and eyewitness testimony, the soldiers – 14 in total – then stood around Jad casually for at least 45 minutes while he bled from one or more gunshot wounds.

All Israeli soldiers receive training in trauma treatment, and any Israeli combat unit should contain a specifically trained medic, but none of the soldiers appeared to give Jad life-saving medical aid. At points, they appeared to ignore repeated attempts from Jad to get their attention.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) told the BBC that soldiers had provided "initial medical treatment", but a spokesperson refused to give any details about the nature or timing of the treatment.

The IDF has also accused Jad of throwing a rock, which, under their rules of engagement, can permit soldiers to use lethal force.

But the footage of the incident shows an IDF soldier dropping an object next to Jad after he was shot, then taking a photograph of it – an action Jad's family and a leading human rights group say appears to be an attempt to frame him.

The soldiers eventually loaded Jad into the back of an Israeli military vehicle, but at some point, either before or after they did, he died. It is still unclear where on his body or how many times he was shot, because the Israeli military has refused to return his body to the family and declined to answer any questions about his injuries.

Jad was born and raised in al-Far'a, a refugee camp in the West Bank that is home to about 10,000 Palestinians. Along with other similar camps in the occupied territories, it is subject to frequent Israeli military raids, which Israel says are necessary to counter armed groups operating there.

In many respects, Jad's death was not unusual. According to the UN, 55 children were killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank last year and 227 have been killed there since the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

But two things stand out about this case. The first is that Jad lay on the ground untreated for so long, with so many soldiers around him, while he died. The second is the emergence of a significant amount of video footage of the incident, which the BBC has verified.

The exact moment of the shooting was captured by a CCTV camera in the camp. The footage shows three boys standing on the corner of an alley. First they peek to their right, where, according to eyewitnesses, Israeli military vehicles had moments earlier driven away towards the exit of the camp.

One of the two friends with Jad at that moment told the BBC the boys had gone outside after a post on a messaging group for the camp said the Israeli units were leaving, and the boys were peeking around the corner to check.

Unknown to Jad and his friends, a group of four Israeli soldiers had waited behind and were standing just metres away, to their left, tucked behind the wall. Jad's friends spotted the soldiers first and ran away up the alley. Jad either didn't see them or saw them too late.

The CCTV footage shows the lead soldier enter the frame less than three metres from Jad, then appear to raise his rifle and open fire. Jad makes a movement that suggests this is the moment he is hit. In the camp, bullet holes can be found raking the wall in this exact spot.

Jad, likely already wounded, then runs up the alley and the Israeli soldier appears to turn, arcing his or her rifle after Jad. The CCTV footage shows dust being kicked up in the alley ahead, suggesting that the IDF soldier kept firing at Jad from behind as he ran away.

In the footage, you see Jad collapse after just a few metres, disappearing out of the frame as he falls. Shortly after, bystander footage, discreetly filmed by a camp resident, picks up from the other direction to the CCTV. This footage would capture some of the final moments of Jad's life.

It shows the teenager appear to make repeated attempts to get the soldiers' attention, by waving his arms and throwing his hat towards them. The soldiers appear to ignore his efforts and kick the hat back.

Alerted to the shooting, Jad's mother attempted to reach him on foot but was blocked by the Israeli soldiers, she and other eyewitnesses said. Another resident made an emergency call and an ambulance was dispatched immediately, arriving at the scene eight minutes later, according to call logs provided to the BBC by the Palestinian Red Crescent.

The lead paramedic, Hassan Fouqha, said his team was stopped by Israeli soldiers at gunpoint and prevented from reaching Jad, who was just a hundred yards or so away, in their sight.

Fouqha and his ambulance crew were then forced to watch on helplessly as Jad lay bleeding from his wounds. The paramedic said they watched for at least 35 minutes, unable to do anything. Fouqha called a second ambulance to come from a different direction, but it was also stopped by the soldiers.

"​​We tried to advance several times, tried signalling to them to let us reach the child, but we were completely blocked," Fouqha said. "We could have reached him and provided medical aid but we were prevented. The purpose of this, we do not know, but this is what happened."

The IDF told the BBC that it had provided "initial medical treatment" to Jad after verifying that he was not wearing a hidden explosive device. Footage of the incident, as well as separate close-up CCTV footage of Jad leaving home beforehand, shows that he was wearing only a T-shirt and jeans.

Asked to explain what wounds Jad sustained and what medical treatment was provided, the IDF declined to answer.

Accused of planting a rock

The IDF has said that Jad threw a rock and was a "terrorist" who "attempted to attack the force".

But Jad's family has accused the soldiers of trying to frame her son, after footage emerged showing one of the soldiers entering the scene from out of shot, dropping a heavy object next to Jad, then taking a picture of the object next to him.

"They dropped a stone next to him so they could frame him, and make it look like he threw stones at them," Jad's mother, Safa, said. "You can see it in the video," she said. "Anyone who watches the video will see."

Human rights groups say that Israeli soldiers in the West Bank operate with a permissive "open fire" policy under which they frequently shoot people who do not pose an immediate threat to their lives, including children who throw stones in their direction.

Shai Parnes, from the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, told the BBC that the footage of Jad appeared to show a soldier planting a rock next to him in order to justify the shooting.

"It is hard to determine for certain what we're seeing – whether it's a rock and whether they are trying to frame him with it," Parnes said. "But I think anyone who watches it with an open mind will probably come to that conclusion."

Such an action would be "abysmal", Parnes added. "But we have found other cases where Israeli forces, in one way or another, tried after the action to frame a Palestinian. It would not be the first time we've seen that on camera."

When asked specifically about the allegation that the soldier had planted a rock next to Jad, the IDF ignored the question.

Many of the exact circumstances of Jad's death, including how many times he was shot and when and where he died, remain unclear, because the IDF has refused to return the body and to answer detailed questions about the incident.

When asked by the BBC, the IDF declined to say why it was withholding Jad's body. Jad's mother, Safa, said the force was either trying to hide something, or simply exercising a form of deliberate cruelty.

"Maybe it is only to provoke our nerves, to exhaust us, to kill our patience," she said. "But we are patient, and we have hope, and we will keep waiting. Today, tomorrow, or after a hundred years, we will get him back. God willing, we will get him back."

Alaa Badarna contributed to this report. Photographs by Joel Gunter.