The Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem published a report in late June 2026 titled Unshielded Childhood, which cataloged and analyzed the deaths of 54 Palestinian minors killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank during 2025. The report immediately circulated widely through global media outlets, framing the fatalities as an unprovoked pattern of systemic state violence.
However, a meticulous, case-by-case counter-investigation conducted over 100 hours by Joseph Cohen and the Israel Advocacy Movement (IAM) “reveals that the report fundamentally distorts reality by rebranding active combatants and terrorists as innocent children.”
IAM’s investigation relied on four rigorous data points to verify the true identity and circumstances of each casualty: official shaheed (“martyr”) posters published by militant groups; real-time Telegram communications between militants and locals; open-source news footage; and official statements or records from the Israeli military and police.
While B’Tselem’s June 2026 publication categorized roughly 60% of the deceased as uninvolved or undetermined, the counteranalysis uncovered a vastly different statistical breakdown for 2025.
Around 20% of individuals in B'Tselem dataset tied to terrorist orgs.
According to the findings, at least 20% of the individuals included in B’Tselem’s dataset were militants, many of whom belonged to the terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), while terror groups Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) issued martyr posters claiming the remaining individuals as affiliated with them.
Furthermore, according to the report, approximately 78% were actively participating in hostilities against Israeli security forces or civilians, such as gunfights, car rammings, and hurling improvised explosive devices, firebombs, or heavy concrete blocks.
The investigation demonstrated that 63% of the casualties were aged 15 or older, and only two were female.
The IAM investigation pointed to several examples to challenge B’Tselem’s findings.
In the case of Rida Bani Odeh, B’Tselem highlighted the 17-year-old by providing a sentimental quote describing him as an “innocent boy with a tender heart who had all the beautiful qualities.”
The IAM report, on the other hand, emphasized his status as a prominent PIJ member by providing a martyr picture of him holding a gun distributed by the PIJ. Bani Odeh was killed alongside other armed operatives during a firefight.
Similarly, though B’Tselem stated it could neither verify nor refute Israeli allegations regarding six individuals killed while throwing Molotov cocktails, the IAM report highlighted explicit IDF footage showing teenagers Muhammad Atim and Muhammad Qassem actively hurling firebombs at civilian highway traffic. In the case of 15-year-old Muhammad Abu Ayash, Hamas martyr posters explicitly identified him as “its youth martyr” killed while throwing firebombs.
In a video on the investigation, Cohen said that such posters serve as “a tacit admission that they recruit and use child soldiers.”
B’Tselem claimed they were unable to determine that the youth had thrown firebombs.
B'Tselem report contains discrepancies between text, data charts
According to the IAM investigation, B’Tselem’s report contained internal discrepancies where its written text conflicted with its own data charts.
The IAM report alleged that these figures did not match up, pointing out instances where B’Tselem’s text stated that five 13-year-olds were killed while its dataset recorded three; it also claimed 16 young men aged 16 while its charts showed only 14.
Cohen told The Jerusalem Post in a statement that “the death of any minor is tragic and should be thoroughly investigated, as is standard Israeli procedure. However, by mixing innocent casualties with active combatants from terror groups, B’Tselem has done a disservice to any genuine victims, weaponizing their deaths to shield combatants and demonize Israel on the global stage.”