For Palestinian mothers who have lost children in the occupied West Bank since October 2023, grief has become part of daily life, with some still struggling to accept that a son or daughter is gone.

Agence France-Presse spoke to 12 women who lost children during the period. Their accounts differed, but each described a sudden break in family life and frustration over what they regard as a lack of accountability.

Among them is Alia al-Hallaq, whose nine-year-old son Mohammed was shot in the village of al-Rihiya, south of Hebron, in October 2025.

“I still haven't accepted the idea of the loss,” she told AFP. “I often sit in the courtyard of the house and look at Mohammed's grave below, and I cry while making sure that my children don't see me.”

Her account is disputed by the Israeli military. Alia said Mohammed was killed after fleeing soldiers in the village. Her uncle told AFP that the boy was struck by a stray bullet during a confrontation between soldiers and older youths, while emergency workers said the bullet passed through his abdomen. The Israeli military said soldiers opened fire during an altercation involving people throwing stones and said hits were identified.

The cases include children killed in different circumstances, from shootings near homes and roads to attacks and airstrikes. B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organisation, said Israeli forces killed 235 Palestinian children and teenagers in the West Bank between 7 October 2023 and June 2026, while five others were killed by Israeli settlers. A Palestinian government commission has put the number of children and teenagers killed during the same period at 250.

The figures mark a sharp increase compared with the years following the second Palestinian intifada. B’Tselem calculated that Israeli forces killed an average of about one Palestinian child or teenager a month between 2005 and 2021, compared with roughly seven a month since October 2023.

Among the youngest victims was seven-month-old Sam Abu Haikal, who was shot in Hebron in June 2026 while travelling with his parents.

His mother, Dania Abu Haikal, 28, was also wounded when soldiers opened fire on the family's vehicle. She told AFP that a bullet struck Sam while he was on her lap before passing through her cheek and exiting through her ear. She later met reporters at the family home in Bethlehem with one of her son's toys.

“Why would anyone shoot an infant? What did a little baby, a seven-month-old infant, do to harm the soldiers?” she said.

The Israeli military said after a preliminary inquiry that one of its soldiers fired at the vehicle after troops perceived it accelerating towards them. Dania disputes that account and said her husband had stopped the car before the shooting began.

Footage later released by B’Tselem appeared to contradict the military's description, showing the vehicle slowing near the soldiers rather than accelerating towards them. The military police subsequently opened an investigation into the shooting, while the military expressed “deep sorrow for any harm caused to uninvolved individuals”.

Dania said she has sought legal help to press for a full investigation.

“I cry every day; now my life is empty without him,” she told AFP.

She added: “Palestinians don't get justice for being killed by Israelis. But we hope that we get justice.”