Israeli army kills Palestinian in occupied West Bank raid
Israeli forces have killed a Palestinian man and wounded several others during a raid on a refugee camp in Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian officials.
Local media said on Tuesday that Israeli forces stormed Balata refugee camp and surrounded the house of a wanted fighter, triggering armed confrontations with Palestinians.
The Palestinian health ministry said Faris Abdul Munim Hashash, 19, was shot by Israeli forces during the fighting. Sustaining bullet wounds to the chest, abdomen and lower limbs, he was brought to Rafidia Surgical Hospital in Nablus, where he was later pronounced dead, Palestinian news agency WAFA cited the ministry as saying.
Eight other Palestinians were treated for gunshot wounds, including one who was hit in the head, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said.
“The military bombed the house, they damaged it,” Husam Sallaj, the uncle of the wanted man, Issam Sallaj, told Reuters news agency. He said his nephew was wounded but not captured.
The wanted man’s brother, Suhaib Sullaj, said an Israeli commander rang to demand that Issam turn himself in. “He said, ‘We want to bomb the house. If you don’t leave, we will kill you, Issam, your mother and sisters, the entire family.’”
The family’s house was partly destroyed, according to reports. Furniture, mattresses and children’s toys were seen scattered in one of the rooms. A car parked in one of the narrow, graffiti-covered alleys near the targeted house was torched, Reuters reported.
Hamas, which runs the besieged Gaza Strip, mourned the 19-year-old but did not claim him as a member. It said in a statement that “the occupation’s crimes will not stop ongoing resistance across the homeland”.
The Israeli army has yet to comment on the Balata raid.
Separately on Tuesday, a drive-by shooting near the city of Jenin lightly wounded four Israeli soldiers, the Israeli army said.
In a statement posted on Twitter, the Israeli army said “shots were fired from a vehicle toward an Israeli vehicle adjacent to the Reihan crossing”.
It added that Israeli soldiers “responded by firing toward the suspects’ vehicle, who fled the area, and are now searching the area and blocking routes”.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Photos circulating on social media showed a car pocked with bullet holes on the windshield and on the passenger side’s door.