Mohammad Yousef Ismael Zubeidat

Their life

Mohammad Yousef Ismael Zubeidat was a 17-year-old Palestinian high school student from the town of Zubeidat, located north of Jericho in the northeastern occupied West Bank. He was a student at Zubeidat Secondary School and was known in his community as a quiet and diligent youth with dreams of completing his education. His life was cut short on September 5, 2023, when he was fatally shot by Israeli soldiers during a military pursuit near a palm farm close to his hometown.

Mohammad Yousef Ismael Zubeidat was a 17-year-old Palestinian teenager from the small village of Zubeidat, nestled in the Jordan Valley, north of Jericho in the occupied West Bank. A student at Zubeidat Secondary School, Mohammad was in the final years of his high school education and hoped to pursue a brighter future, despite the harsh realities of life under occupation. Known among his peers and neighbors for his calm demeanor and strong sense of belonging to his community, Mohammad lived in a tight-knit family that had long endured the daily pressures of military presence and land confiscation in the Jordan Valley.

On September 5, 2023, his life came to a tragic end when Israeli forces pursued and shot him in a palm grove near his hometown. The Israeli military claimed he had been involved in a shooting that wounded a Border Guard officer, though the details remain disputed. After shooting him, Israeli soldiers blocked Palestinian medics from reaching him and later informed Palestinian authorities of his death. That same day, Israeli forces raided his family home, arresting his father and brother, leaving the family in shock and grief.

Mohammad’s death is part of a wider pattern of escalating violence in the West Bank, where young Palestinians increasingly find themselves caught between daily resistance, accusations from the occupying military, and the loss of safety in even the most familiar places. His killing further deepened the pain of a community that has witnessed too many young lives lost, and his absence has left an aching void among classmates, relatives, and residents of Zubeidat.

How they died

Fatally shot by Israeli soldiers

Why we remember them

This record exists so that Mohammad Yousef Ismael Zubeidat, and all who are named in this archive, are never reduced to a number.

References & sources