Ayman Nassar Muhammad Taysir al-Haymuni, 12, Hebron, 21 February 2025

On 21 February 2025, soldiers who had raided a neighborhood in Hebron fired at 12-year-old Ayman al-Haymuni as he left his grandfather’s house with his 10-year-old brother, on their way to their uncle’s house, which is adjacent nearby. According to B’Tselem’s investigation, after the two noticed soldiers in the area, they tried to return to their grandfather’s house, and as they turned back, al-Haymuni was shot in the back and fell to the ground. His uncle tried to evacuate him, but soldiers who approached fired at him, and he was forced to retreat. When the soldiers left a few minutes later, the family evacuated Ayman by car to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

B’Tselem field researcher Manal Ja’bari collected the testimonies.

Nadim ‘Ajlouni, Ayman’s uncle, 28, a father of two, recounted on 25 February 2025:

I live in the Jabal Johar neighborhood, in the southern part of Hebron. I work in construction in the West Bank.

On 21 February 2025, my sister Anwaar, 29, was visiting us with her children: Ayman, 12, Aysar, 10, Tayalarah, 5, and Ayan, 2.

At around 6:30 P.M., Anwaar was getting ready to go home. Before they left, my brother Ashraf asked Ayman to take some money over to our brother Tareq, who lives across from us.

Ayman and his brother Aysar, 10, went out to do that. At that moment, I found out the army was outside, so I immediately went out after them. Ayman was about 10 meters away from me. I saw him and Aysar going up the steps of the house. He was out of breath. Then I heard a single gunshot, and Ayman fell on the steps. I rushed down the stairs towards him.

At that moment, I began to see the soldiers’ spotlights advancing along the road leading to the house.

I picked Ayman up and carried him for about four meters, until I was behind the iron gate on the right side of the house, and then the soldiers fired in my direction. I had to put Ayman down on the ground and back away towards a side street so they wouldn’t shoot me.

I saw three soldiers in front of our house, so I turned around and went to the back entrance of the house, and from there I shouted to my family to come out because Ayman was wounded. My family came out and ran from the house towards the road.

My sister Anwaar, Ayman’s mother, went with my brothers to the road, and they started shouting at the soldiers, who stopped for two minutes and then withdrew as Anwaar was screaming at them.

We took Ayman in a car to Mohammad Ali Al Muhtaseb Government Hospital, which is in the southern part of Hebron. The doctors tried to resuscitate him but had to pronounce him dead half an hour after he arrived. They said he was shot in the back and the bullet exited through his neck.

The next day, military jeeps came to the entrance of the house. The soldiers walked around near the house for a little while and then left.

Ayman’s mother, Anwaar al-Haymuni, 29, a mother of four, recounted on 25 February 2025:

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My husband Nassar, who works in the Presidential Guard in the city of Ramallah, and I had four children: our eldest, Ayman, 12, who was killed on 21 February 2025, and the three still with us, Aysar, 10, Tayalarah, 5, and Ayan, 2.

On the day Ayman was killed, I was visiting my parents’ house with the children, in the Jabal Johar neighborhood in the south of Hebron. My brother Ashraf asked Ayman to take some money over to our brother Tareq, who lives in the house opposite my parents’. Ashraf put the money in a small bag, put it on Ayman’s shoulder, and asked him to deliver it before we left for home.

Ayman left my parents’ house with his younger brother, Aysar, 10. Just then, I heard that occupation soldiers were in the neighborhood. I hurried to the window to see what was happening and to call the children back in, fearing for their lives.

When I looked out the window, I heard at least one gunshot. I panicked and raced to the door. My brothers and my parents came after me, and we went out to the steps leading to the road, opposite the entrance to my brother Tareq’s house.

Aysar ran towards us in a panic and said: “The Jews shot Ayman.” I saw three soldiers surrounding Ayman, who was lying on the ground, shining their flashlights on him. He was close to the gate.

I went over to him and shouted at the soldiers: “What have you done to my son?” Ayman said to me in a faint voice: “Mom, the soldiers shot me.” I was in shock and started shouting at the soldiers: “Which one of you shot my son?” while one of my brothers picked Ayman up and took him to the car.

The soldiers withdrew. My brothers quickly put Ayman into the car and drove to the hospital, and I followed the soldiers and kept yelling at them: “Which one of you killed my son?” I followed them for about 200 meters, until I reached the main road, al-Kasara, where there were more soldiers, and I kept shouting at them.

At that point, a relative of mine picked me up in a car, and we drove to Mohammad Ali Al Muhtaseb Hospital. When we got there, Ayman was in the ER, and the doctors tried everything they could to resuscitate him for about half an hour, until they had to pronounce him dead.

Ayman was a seventh-grade student and didn’t do anything. He didn’t throw stones at the soldiers, who killed him in cold blood.

Ayman’s father, Nassar al-Haymuni, 39, a father of four, recounted on 25 February 2025:

On Friday, 21 February 2025, my wife called me while I was at work and told me she was going to visit her parents in the Jabal Johar neighborhood, in southern Hebron.

That evening, at around 7:00 P.M., relatives called me and told me that my son Ayman had been wounded by occupation soldiers’ gunfire near his uncle Tareq al-‘Ajlouni’s house.

I left work with a friend of mine, and we drove in his car. When we reached the Container checkpoint, northwest of Bethlehem, soldiers and Border Police officers at the checkpoint ordered my friend, who was driving, to turn off the engine and hand over his ID card. They started a thorough search of the car, and within a few moments, a Border Police officer came over to me and took my ID card for inspection. Two minutes later, he came running back, with two male and one female Border Police officers behind him. They were pointing their guns at me, and he shouted: “Get out of the car, put your hands on your head.”

I obeyed his orders and got out of the car. As soon as I did, he ordered me to strip naked, but I refused. In the end, after an argument, he ordered me to take off the jacket I was wearing, and then he asked me: “How are you related to the boy we killed?”

At that moment, I went into shock. I suddenly understood that Ayman was dead. I answered the officer, who spoke Arabic: “He’s my son.” He replied: “We will send you to him, God willing.”

We got into a verbal altercation. He shouted and tried to attack me with his weapon. Then he ordered me to move towards a concrete room by the checkpoint and had me stand by its entrance. Then, a female Border Police officer arrived. She spoke with the officer, asked him about me, and he told her in Hebrew: “We killed his son,” and she started laughing and dancing. I shouted at her that I hoped she would die too.

The officer pushed me into the room and came in after me; I figure he was going to attack me, but just then, another officer came running with a phone in his hand and held it up to my ear. The person on the line, who introduced himself as a Shin Bet officer, said to me: “May God reward you for your patience,” and added: “He was a child, and we’re sorry; he was killed by mistake.” Then he asked: “Why are you going back to Hebron now?” I answered: “To see my child and bury him,” and the officer said: “We’re watching you, and if you do anything wrong, I’ll come and arrest you at your house.” I told him: “Why do it there? Arrest me here now,” and he replied: “No, now you go bury your son, and if you do anything, I will arrest you.”

They let me go, and I continued on to Hebron.

I reached the government hospital in Hebron, where I found my child in the morgue. I asked for an autopsy to be performed at the forensic institute. Later, I checked his body and saw bullet wounds in his back and chest.