Hala Salem Darwish, 18, is on life support in Gaza after being shot by Israeli snipers, while 13-year-old Mohammad Saber al-Sheikh is fighting for his life in the West Bank. Their cases illustrate the ongoing violence against Palestinian youth.
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Hala Salem Darwish, 18, is on life support inside Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Gaza’s Deir el-Balah. Another Palestinian, 13-year-old Mohammad Saber al-Sheikh, has been battling for life at a hospital in the occupied West Bank.
Hala was preparing dinner for her family and Mohammad was playing football when they were shot in the head by Israeli snipers.
Their stories, unfolding nearly 100km (62 miles) apart, highlight the persistent and deadly violence faced by Palestinian youth across the occupied Palestinian territory.
Hala Salem Darwish, 18, was preparing for her May 1 wedding before an Israeli sniper’s bullet shattered her dreams inside her family home in Maghazi [Courtesy of family]
Hala, who was sheltering in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, was eagerly looking forward to her wedding, scheduled for May 1. The youngest daughter in her family, she had already prepared her henna and finalised the arrangements for the celebration.
Those plans were shattered when an Israeli sniper, positioned east of the camp, shot her in the head while she was preparing dinner inside her home near a clinic run by the UN refugee agency for the Palestinians (UNRWA). She may join the more than 72,000 Palestinians killed by Israel since October 2023. Nearly 40,000 of those killed are women and children.
“She had everything ready for the henna, the wedding, and all the traditions you know,” Mohammad Abu Jabr, a journalist and relative of Hala’s fiance, told Al Jazeera.
“But the bullet killed this dream.” Hala remains on life support in the intensive care unit at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in critical condition.
Hala, 18, was shot in the head by Israeli snipers while preparing dinner, and Mohammad, 13, was shot while playing football.
Hala is in Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Gaza, while Mohammad is in a hospital in the occupied West Bank.
They are nearly 100km (62 miles) apart, with Hala in Gaza and Mohammad in the occupied West Bank.
Their stories highlight the persistent and deadly violence faced by Palestinian youth across the occupied Palestinian territory.
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13-year-old Mohammad Saber al-Sheikh remains in critical condition in Ramallah, with his father, Saber, watching over him after he was shot while playing football [Al Jazeera/screengrab]
In the occupied West Bank, a similar tragedy struck the Jalazone refugee camp on April 9. Thirteen-year-old Mohammad was playing outside his home when Israeli forces raided the camp amid heavy gunfire.
Mohammad was struck in the head by an Israeli sniper’s bullet.
“The bullet entered and exited his head,” his father, Saber al-Sheikh, told Al Jazeera.
Mohammad is currently receiving treatment at the Istishari Arab Hospital located in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank. Dr Abdel Wahab Kharousha said that the impact was so severe that a portion of the boy’s brain protruded from the wound.
Mohammad remains in the neurology intensive care unit under continuous sedation to control brain pressure. “Mohammad is a hardworking boy,” his father said. “He loves playing football … The doctors did not fall short.”
The shootings of Hala and Mohammad are part of a broader surge in Israeli violence against Palestinian minors.
On Tuesday morning, 16-year-old Mohammad Majdi al-Jabari was killed in Hebron after being struck by a vehicle in the security convoy of an Israeli minister. The vehicle belonged to a company protecting Settlements Minister Orit Strock, according to reports.
At least four Palestinians were killed, including two boys, 14 and 16, in attacks by Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday. In Gaza, at least seven Palestinians, including a child, were killed in a series of attacks despite a “ceasefire” in place since October 2025. Israel has killed nearly 800 Palestinians in breach of the US-brokered “ceasefire”.
According to the Palestinian government media office, Israeli forces have killed 237 children in the occupied West Bank between October 2023 and mid-April.
Palestinian journalist Marium Barghouti said Israel has “intensified and increasingly violent” attacks in the occupied West Bank, “with the purpose of dispossessing Palestinians from their homes and lands”.
Thousands of Palestinians have been displaced in the West Bank as settler violence and Israeli crackdowns have spiked. More than 700,000 settlers live in illegal settlements built on private Palestinian land. Settlements are considered illegal under international laws and are seen as the biggest obstacle in the realisation of Palestinian statehood as part of the so-called two-state solution.
A group of international humanitarian organisations, in a report published on Monday, said that Israeli soldiers have used sexual abuse to force Palestinians out of their homes in the occupied West Bank.
“Sexualised violence is used to pressure communities, shape decisions about remaining or leaving their homes and land, and alter patterns of daily life,” the report said.