At least ten Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in violent incidents in the West Bank

At least ten Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the past 24 hours, and more than a dozen injured, in several violent clashes in the occupied Palestinian territory of West Bankwhich is experiencing its highest peak of violence in two decades, with almost 120 deaths so far in 2024.

A total of three Palestinian militiamen died last night in JeninNorth of West Bankin an attack with an Israeli drone, while a fourth died this Thursday after being seriously injured and admitted to hospital Ibn Sina.

Four more Palestinians died today in an Israeli military attack on the refugee camp in Nur Shams in Tulkarm, also in the North: two of them in a drone attack this morning and another two by gunfire; while a fifth Palestinian was killed this morning by soldiers’ bullets near Ramallah and a sixth was killed near Bethlehem, confirmed the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Relatives of the deceased Palestinian boy Amer Al Najar cry around his body at Rafidia Hospital in the West Bank city of Nablus on March 4, 2024. (Photo EFE/EPA/ALAA BADARNEH) (ALAA BADARNEH/)

In Nur Shams, the Israeli Army reported this morning of an “anti-terrorist operation”, in which “a drone attacked two terrorists who posed an immediate threat to the forces.” After this first attack, armed clashes broke out between Israeli troops and residents that lasted more than eight hours.

Those killed in Tulkarem were identified as Ahmad Abu Ali22 years old and Abdulah Al-Qaisi, 20, both for gunshots; It is Nidal Abu Obaid23 and Iyad Azmi Kanouh19, in the drone attack. At present, none have been claimed by any militia.

The official Palestinian agency Wafa reported that Israeli drones first attacked a point in Nur Shams, causing several injuries and preventing ambulances from entering, and identified around 50 Israeli military vehicles inside the camp, where they raided houses and carried out searches and interrogations. residents.

This is the second Israeli air attack on the occupied West Bank in just a few hours, after a drone yesterday killed three Palestinians, claimed to be militiamen by the Jenin Brigade and affiliated, at least two of them, with Islamic Jihad.

According to the Israeli Army, those killed in Jenin planned and participated in attacks against Israel and were involved in “a recent attempt by a terrorist to enter the heart of Israel to carry out an attack, a plan thwarted by Israeli security forces on March 11.” . , 2024″.

New local militias

The Jenin Brigade was born two years ago in that city’s refugee camp – a historical bastion of the militia movement – ​​with the idea of ​​bringing together all young people from all militias regardless of political factions; a scheme that was later repeated in other places in the West Bank, especially in refugee camps, such as those in Tulkarem.

The Jenin refugee camp went on general strike today in protest over the death yesterday of three of its residents in Israeli drone attacks, increasingly frequent in the West Bank after Israel killed three militiamen from that same camp with a drone in June 2023. , a resource that had not been used in that territory since 2006.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health also confirmed the death of Mohamed Nashaat Salhiya, A 19-year-old young man, “killed by occupation bullets” in the Al Amari refugee camp, in the city of Al Bireh, north of Ramallah, in another attack by Israeli troops, which left two others injured.

Furthermore, this Thursday morning, Palestine Sameh Abd al Rai Zaytun, The 63-year-old was killed by Israeli soldiers who found a knife in his bag when he was searched at a checkpoint in the West Bank, near the settlement of Elazar, in the Bethlehem region, but it does not appear that he tried to attack the troops.

Palestinian people carry the body of 16-year-old Mustafa Abu Shalbak during his funeral in the Qalandiya refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on March 4, 2024. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH/AFP) (JAAFAR ASHTIYEH/)

The Palestinian Red Crescent denounced that the troops They did not allow access to their ambulances; while the Army confirmed the incident and announced an investigation.

The occupied West Bank is experiencing its greatest spiral of violence since the Second Intifada (2000-05) and so far in 2024, at least 117 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, most of them suspected of being militants or attackers, but also civilians. including more than twenty minors, according to an EFE count, after closing 2023 as the deadliest year in two decades, with more than 520 deaths.

On the Israeli side, nine civilians and one soldier died in 2024 in Palestinian attacks, in addition to a soldier in an attack in Jenin, in January, after detonating an explosive with his vehicle.

The Israeli Army increased its attacks in the West Bank in 2022 in response to a wave of attacks, but intensified them further after the Hamas attack on October 7, and since then, around 444 Palestinians have died, mainly at the hands of troops. , but also by the colonists.

Since last night, Israeli troops have detained 25 Palestinians across the West Bank, including two children, bringing the number of arrests made since October 7 to more than 7,725; according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club; although the Army has kept around 3,500 “suspects” detained behind bars since that date, 1,500 of them for alleged links to the Palestinian Islamic group Hamas.

Source: Elcomercio