Civil Liability for Training a Child Soldier

During a civil claim against the Palestinian Authority (PA), a court held that the PA was responsible for a terror attack committed by a 15.5-year-old Palestinian minor. The attack occurred after the minor had completed a 50-day training session 10 days earlier, during which he was taught to use weapons and was incited to attack Jewish Israelis. The court ruled that the PA was liable for the damages caused to the victim and his family.

This ruling is particularly notable because it attributes responsibility to the PA for creating an environment that fostered violence and terrorism, despite the fact that the attack was carried out by a minor. The PA’s role in training and motivating the minor was deemed sufficient to establish its liability, even though the actual attack was not directly ordered by the PA.

The incident took place during the Second Intifada, a period that is recognized as a non-international armed conflict (NIAC).