We are publishing this report as the Israeli military carries out its largest incursion into the occupied West Bank in decades. Like countless operations before, the Israeli military’s first targets were children: an Israeli drone-fired missile struck the Na’ja brothers, 13-year-old Murad and 17-year-old Mohammad, on 28 August in al-Far’a refugee camp, as they sat on the roof of their home. They were killed instantly.

Four-year-old Ruqaya was sitting in the back of a taxi van with her mom. Fifteen-year-old Mahmoud was riding his bike home from school. Thirteen-year-old Amir was demonstrating in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Thirteen-year-old Mohammad was waiting for a taxi. Seventeen-year-old Mahmoud was standing at a window inside his own house.

Sixteen-year-old Luai was leaving a barber shop. Seventeen-year-old Karam was protesting Israeli settlers’ attempts to take over his village’s land. Ten-year-old Amr was riding in a car with his dad and little brother.

The casual, chilling cruelty of Israeli forces as they pull the trigger to kill a child shocks me every time. It is human nature to wonder, “why did the soldier kill this child?”

As Palestinian child fatalities soar, from Gaza to the occupied West Bank, the answer, too, is chilling: because they want to, and because they can. After all, no one has stopped them.