Your report (How children in West Bank are being killed by Israel ‘without accountability’, 29 June) resonated deeply. As the chief executive of Unicef UK, I have just returned from meeting Palestinian families and children across the West Bank – many of whom carried Unicef backpacks just like Mohammad al-Halaq in your report – who spoke of the rising fear and violence that have become part of their daily lives.
I have worked in humanitarian development for more than two decades, but nothing could have prepared me for what I witnessed there. In Hebron’s militarised H2 area, movement is heavily restricted, children must pass checkpoints to get to school and their usual route is permanently closed. A group of mothers I met described routine humiliation and intimidation. The streets were empty, people afraid to be outside.
