A firework is lit, a boy is shot; Israel’s use of deadly force is under scrutiny

12-year-old boy in east Jerusalem shot by Israeli police while lighting fireworks, sparking outrage and calls for justice.

A 12-year-old boy in east Jerusalem lights the fuse of a long firework and hoists it in the air. Then, just before it explodes and illuminates the night sky with a burst of red, he is shot in the chest by Israeli police and falls to the ground.

A clip of Rami Halhouli’s final moments last week has been circulating on social media for days. Human rights activists say it shines a light on the surge of Palestinians — including dozens of children — who have been killed without justification by Israeli forces since October 7.

Halhouli’s family says the boy was struck by a bullet fired from the direction of an Israeli police watchtower looking over the Shuafat refugee camp. Halhouli, his brother and four friends, the family says, were lighting fireworks to celebrate the end of another day of Ramzan, the Muslim holy month marked by dawn-to-dusk fasting.

Israeli police said the firework was directed toward its forces and endangered them. Open-fire regulations permit officers to shoot someone who is aiming a firework at another person in a life-threatening way. The Israeli government says the shooting is under investigation.

Ali Halhouli, the boy’s father, was at home when he heard the gunshot — and then his son crying out for his mother. “When I rushed out of here I saw him lying on his face,” he said.

Violence across east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank has spiked since October 7, when Hamas militants staged a surprise attack on southern Israel and sparked a brutal war in the Gaza Strip.

At least 435 Palestinians from east Jerusalem and the West Bank have been killed by Israeli fire since then, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Many have been shot dead in armed clashes, others for throwing stones at troops. Some appear to have posed no apparent threat.