Thousands of people in the central West bank village of Beit Laqiya on Friday attended the funeral of 13-year-old Bahaa Samir Badir, who was shot dead by Israeli soldiers a day earlier.

The funeral procession started after Friday prayers at the Palestine Medical Complex in nearby Ramallah and headed towards the al-Shuhada cemetery, where the boy’s body was buried.

Mourners waved Palestinian flags and held aloft pictures of Badir while shouting slogans to demand an end to the murder of Palestinian children.

Other participants demanded that Israel be held accountable for its ongoing “crimes.”

Medical sources said Badir was shot in the chest after Israeli forces raided the village of Beit Laqiya on Thursday evening.

An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed that Israeli forces shot at a crowd in the village, but said Palestinians had hurled “Molotov cocktails” at the troops.

The death of Bahaa brings the total number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank so far this year to 42, in addition to the nearly 2,200 Palestinians slain during Israel’s summer offensive across Gaza.

(Ma’an – www.maannews.net)