A Palestinian child was killed after stepping on a mine near an Israeli military camp in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said, with an Israeli defence ministry source confirming the death.
"Our crews received the body of a 13-year-old child who was killed after a mine exploded in one of the old camps in Jiftlik in the northern Jordan Valley," the Red Crescent said in a statement.
A source at COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry's agency in charge of civilian matters in the Palestinian territories, confirmed the death to AFP and identified the boy as Mohammed Abu Dalah, from the village of Jiftlik.
Israel's military had previously said in a statement that three Palestinians were injured "as a result of playing with unexploded ordnance", without specifying their ages.
It added that the area of the incident, Tirzah, is "a military camp in the area of the Jordan Valley", near Jiftlik and close to the Jordanian border.
"This area is a live-fire zone and entry into it is prohibited," the military said.
Israeli presence ‘unlawful’
Jiftlik village council head Ahmad Ghawanmeh told AFP that three children, the oldest of whom was 16, were collecting herbs near the military base when they detonated a mine.
Jiftlik as well as the nearby Tirzah base are located in the Palestinian territory's Area C, which falls under illegal Israeli control.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.
Much of the area near the Jordan border, despite the 1994 peace treaty, remains mined, reflecting Israel’s long-standing use of minefields along border zones.
Under international law, Israel’s continued military presence in the occupied West Bank, including areas near the Jordan border, remains widely viewed as unlawful and lacking legitimate sovereignty.
