One day after his parents say he died from fear of armed Israeli soldiers, Palestinians in the West Bank buried a seven-year-old boy, Rayan Suleiman.
Yesterday, Rayan Suleiman and his brothers were reportedly chased by Israeli soldiers as they walked home from school.
They claimed the soldiers banged furiously on their door and threatened to arrest them. Rayan, the youngest of the three brothers, died just moments later.
Mohammed Suleiman, Rayan’s cousin, told Al Jazeera that upon his arrival at his house, Rayan was chased by soldiers who were shouting at him.
The soldiers shouted at him that he was a stone thrower. The soldier met him from the other side [of the house] after he ran away from one side. When Rayan saw the soldier in front of him, he was shocked and fell to the ground in a state of fear.
Mohammed Sulaiman
In addition, Rayan’s father, Yasser Suleiman, told The Associated Press news agency that Rayan collapsed after seeing the Israeli soldiers who chased him appear at his front door.
Rayan’s older brothers, who are eight and ten years old, were threatened with arrest by the soldiers. As Rayan fell unconscious, the chaos caused him to become unconscious.
Rayan’s father
Despite the best efforts of doctors at Beit Jala Hospital, he could not be revived. However, according to a pediatric specialist, Mohamed Ismail, Rayan was in good health.
“It is most likely that he had an increase in adrenaline secretion under stress, which caused his heartbeat to increase,” Ismail explained. As a result, he suffered a cardiac arrest.
An autopsy is currently being conducted on Rayan by a forensic doctor.
Rayan’s family has been denied any violence by the Israeli military, which claims that only one officer responded to their house after spotting children throwing stones.
Richard Hecht, a military spokesman, stated that the officer spoke with Rayan’s father in a “very calm manner.” “There was no violence, and no one entered the house,” Hecht stated.
Meanwhile, the United States government has urged Israel to conduct a “thorough” investigation into the death of the 7-year-old.
According to Vedant Patel, State Department deputy spokesman, the United States is “heartbroken to learn of the death of an innocent Palestinian child.”
“We support a thorough and immediate investigation of the circumstances surrounding the death of the child,” Patel stated.
In the West Bank, violence is rising at the time of Rayan’s funeral.
A military raid conducted by Israeli forces in Jenin, in the northern West Bank, resulted in the death of four Palestinians and the injury of 44 others.
As a result of a series of Palestinian attacks on Israel last spring, Israel has been conducting nightly arrest raids in the northern West Bank. As a result, there have been dozens of Palestinian deaths in the occupied territories this year, making it the deadliest year since 2015.
