• Seven-year-old Rayan Suleiman was walking home from school on Thursday.
• His family said he and his brothers were chased by Israeli soldiers.
• After the boys bolted home, the troops banged furiously on the door and threatened them.

A throng of men carrying the body of a seven-year-old Palestinian boy marched through a town in the occupied West Bank on Friday, a day after his parents claim he died from fear of armed Israeli soldiers.

Rayan Suleiman, with bright eyes and a backpack emblazoned with an animated racing car, was walking home from school on Thursday when he and his brothers were chased by Israeli soldiers, according to his family.

After the boys fled, the troops pounded on the door and threatened to arrest them. Rayan, the youngest of the three brothers, died just moments later. Rayan’s cousin, Mohammed Suleiman, stated that when Rayan arrived at his house, he was pursued by soldiers who were yelling at him.

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“The soldiers yelled at him that he was a stone thrower,” he explained. “He fled from one side of the house, and the soldier pursued him from the other.” “When Rayan saw the soldier in front of him, he was shocked and collapsed in fear,” he said.

According to Hadeel Salman, a witness and neighbour, Israeli soldiers were “going in all directions looking for any child they could find.”

“The soldiers even summoned my younger brother, telling him he had thrown stones at them and should be arrested.”

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