2 yıl önce

Israeli troops kill three Palestinians in occupied West Bank raids

Habib Kamil, 25, and Abdulhadi Nazal, 18, were shot dead in Qabatiya town and Samir Aouni Harbi Aslan, 41, was killed in Qalandia refugee camp, says Palestine's Health Ministry.

Reuters

Children react during the funeral of 41-year-old Palestinian Harbi Aslan near Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Israeli forces have killed three Palestinians in two separate incidents in the occupied West Bank, Palestine's Health Ministry said, as Israeli troops reported opening fire on fleeing suspects and "being pelted with rocks" during raids.

Palestine's Health Ministry said that Habib Kamil, 25, and Abdulhadi Nazal, 18, were killed by live Israeli bullets in the town of Qabatiya near the northern West Bank city of Jenin.

The Israeli military said that during a raid to arrest a suspect in Qabatiya, "the wanted suspect and an additional suspect fled the scene."

"The forces fired toward them. The wanted suspect was apprehended and a hit on the additional suspect was identified," Israeli army said in a statement.

In an ensuing gunfight and clashes, Israeli soldiers shot two other Palestinians, the statement said.

The uptick in West Bank violence continued the trend of 2022, which was the deadliest since UN records began in 2005.

Fears of a military escalation in the territory have been sparked by the inauguration in late December of the most right-wing government in Israel's history, led by Benjamin Netanyahu.

The West Bank, occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War, is home to about 2.9 million Palestinians. An estimated 500,000 illegal Jewish settlers now also live in West Bank communities considered unlawful under international law.

'Don't be afraid'

Earlier in the day, Palestine announced that 41-year-old Samir Aouni Harbi Aslan was killed "by a bullet of the Israeli occupation army" in Qalandia refugee camp, near Ramallah.

The Israeli military said troops had fired on people who "hurled rocks and blocks from the rooftops aiming at soldiers operating beneath".

Eighteen people were arrested in raids overnight Wednesday-Thursday across the West Bank, the Palestinian Prisoners' Club advocacy group said.

Azzam Abdel Qader, who witnessed the raid, said Aslan was shot on the balcony of his home as his son was being detained.

"He shouted at the soldiers and said to his son: 'Don't be afraid'," Qader told the AFP news agency.

"After that, stones were being thrown at the occupation soldiers in the neighbourhood, so the soldiers started shooting randomly."

Mourners gathered in Qalandia for the funeral of Aslan, the third Palestinian killed in the West Bank in 24 hours.

The Qabatia deaths bring the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since the start of the year to nine.

More killings after deadly year

On Wednesday, an Israeli civilian shot dead a 19-year-old Palestinian near a settlement in the southern West Bank.

The incident followed Israeli troops killing a Palestinian fighter in a firefight during an incursion by the forces into the northern city of Nablus.

His funeral on Thursday drew hundreds of mourners, who gathered in the city hours after another incursion by Israeli forces.

Two Palestinian journalists were among those wounded during the raid.

A surge in bloodshed last year saw at least 26 Israelis and 200 Palestinians killed across Israel and the occupied West Bank, according to an AFP tally.

More than 150 of the fatalities were in the occupied West Bank, according to United Nations figures.