Mo’tasem Mohammad Atallah
Shot and killed by Israeli forces.
Mo’tasem Atallah, 18, was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers on May 8, 2022, near the illegal Israeli settlement of Tekoa’, east of Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military claimed he had infiltrated settlement land and was trespassing on private property. After killing him, they alleged he had a knife in his pocket, which they used to retroactively justify the shooting.
No Israelis were harmed, and no credible evidence was provided that Atallah posed an immediate threat. The Israeli military imposed a temporary lockdown on the settlement of Tuqu’ afterward, citing suspicions of infiltration, but no attack occurred, and no other Palestinians were apprehended.
Biography
Mo’tasem Mohammad Atallah was an 18-year-old Palestinian from Harmala village, located east of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. He was killed on May 8, 2022, by Israeli forces near the illegal Israeli settlement of Tekoa’. The Israeli military claimed he had entered settlement land and was allegedly carrying a knife, though no Israeli was harmed and no concrete evidence was presented to support claims of an attack.
Mo’tasem Atallah was a Palestinian youth living in Harmala, a village frequently affected by Israeli settlement expansion and military presence. Like many young Palestinians in the West Bank, he lived under the daily constraints of military checkpoints, movement restrictions, and settler encroachments. His proximity to the Tekoa’ settlement placed him in an especially vulnerable zone, where accusations of infiltration or suspicion of intent can often result in the use of lethal force without warning or trial.
On the day of his death, he was reported to be among a group of four youths near the settlement. He was the only one killed, and the others were not captured. The army claimed to find a knife on him post-mortem. Despite this, no attack occurred, no settlers were harmed, and no attempt to arrest him was made before the shooting. Mo’tasem's death is part of a wider pattern of fatal incidents involving Palestinian minors near settlements, often justified by preemptive security claims that are rarely scrutinized.
He died during a time of heightened military alert and lockdowns in the West Bank, imposed by Israeli authorities after unrelated attacks elsewhere. His killing highlights the high-risk environment in which young Palestinians live and the near-total impunity Israeli forces operate with when it comes to Palestinian lives.
Sources & References
Mo’tasem Mohammad Atallah, 18, was killed by Israeli forces near the illegal Israeli colonial settlement of Tekoa’, east of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli military claimed that the young man had infiltrated the settlement land, and “was trespassing on the private property of a resident”. After killing him, the soldiers said they found a knife in Atallah’s pocket and claimed that was their justification for killing him. The army then issued an order to all of the illegal Israeli settlers living in the colony of Tuqu’ to stay in their homes, saying (without evidence) that they suspected a terrorist attack was underway.1 israelpalestinetimeline.org Open source