The Israeli military has denied any violence in the interaction with Rayan’s family, saying that just one officer came to the family’s house after spotting children throwing stones.
Photographs of Rayan’s tiny, lifeless body under a sheet in the hospital became a potent new symbol overnight, threatening to fuel already heightened tensions just a day after the deadliest Israeli raid since the military escalated its crackdown on the West Bank earlier this year.Īnd like many such incidents in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict, his death has sparked contention. Mideast envoy Tor Wennesland said he was “saddened” and called for an immediate probe. The European Union said it was “shocked” by Rayan’s “tragic death.” U.N. The State Department demanded an investigation. “He was just an innocent boy, just 7 years old, what can he do?” Yasser Suleiman, Rayan's father, told The Associated Press outside the hospital morgue on Friday, choking back tears. Fear for their children's safety and the dread of soldiers knocking on the door are part of daily life under an entrenched Israeli military rule that is now in its 56th year. Rayan's death also struck a nerve with Palestinian parents. Heavily armed Israeli soldiers routinely arrest Palestinian children in the West Bank, where nearly half a million Israeli settlers live on land that Palestinians want for a future independent state.
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