Two Palestinians were killed in a pre-dawn raid by the Israeli army on Sunday in the northern occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, while the Israeli army announced it had launched new strikes drone in Gaza.
Since the start of the year, the West Bank has been the scene of repeated Palestinian attacks against Israelis and recurring violence by Jewish settlers against Palestinians. Israel regularly carries out military operations in this territory which it has occupied since 1967.
In recent days, violence has spread to the Gaza Strip, pitting Palestinian demonstrators against Israeli forces on either side of the separation barrier between Israel and this Palestinian territory, subject to an Israeli blockade since the Islamist movement Hamas took power there in 2007.
In the occupied West Bank, “two Palestinians were killed by live Israeli bullets” in the Nour Chams refugee camp, near the town of Tulkarem, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said.
The victims were identified as Ossaid Abou Ali, 22, and Abdel Rahmane Abou Daghash, 32. Hamas claimed that Ossaid Abou Ali was one of its fighters.
The Israeli army, for its part, indicated that it had carried out “counter-terrorism” operations in the camp, dismantled an “operational command center” and discovered a large number of explosive devices.
During the operation, "suspects opened fire and threw explosive devices at the forces who responded with live fire", added the army, specifying that one soldier was "slightly injured".
Ibrahim al-Nimer, a resident of the camp, told AFP that the army had "entered the camp after 2 a.m." and had "demolished (...) some houses".
Several military vehicles entered the camp during the night, according to another resident, Omar Sabhan.
"It was scary. There were snipers (...) and they were shooting at everything that moved," he added.
On Sunday, a crowd attended the funeral of the two Palestinians in the refugee camp.
An AFP journalist who visited the camp shortly after the raid saw the roof and walls of a building completely collapsed.
Three Palestinian factions? Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine? called for "strengthening resistance, especially armed resistance" against "increasing Zionist aggression."
In another overnight incident, the army arrested "eight wanted suspects" at Birzeit University in the West Bank, saying the group had "planned to carry out a terrorist attack."
At least 241 Palestinians, 32 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian have been killed since the start of the year in violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to an AFP count established from official sources.
These statistics include, on the Palestinian side, combatants and civilians including minors, and on the Israeli side, the majority of civilians including minors, and three members of the Arab minority.
On Sunday evening, the Israeli army announced that it had launched new drone strikes in the Gaza Strip against “two military positions” of Hamas, after violence on the border with Israel.
The Health Ministry in Gaza said five Palestinians were injured "by Israeli bullets" during a demonstration along the border.
Since September 13, there has been almost daily violence between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli forces on both sides of the border.
Palestinians have repeatedly demonstrated at the border after Israel closed the Erez crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip, a decision that an Israeli NGO called "collective punishment" as it affects several thousand Palestinian workers.
Six Palestinians have been killed and nearly 100 injured in border violence since September 13, according to the Hamas health ministry.
24/09/2023 19:25:57 - Tulkarem (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - © 2023 AFP
