Nine Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in West Bank raid

An Israeli raid on the occupied West Bank’s Jenin refugee camp on 26 January killed nine Palestinians including an elderly woman, Palestinian officials said. The Palestinian health ministry also accused Israeli forces of using tear gas inside a hospital children’s ward.

The health ministry said that the death toll rose to “nine martyrs including an elderly woman”, with multiple wounded. In a separate statement, Palestinian health minister Mai al-Kaila said that:

occupation forces stormed Jenin Government Hospital and intentionally fired tear gas canisters at the paediatric department in the hospital.

She described the situation in the refugee camp as “critical”, and said Israeli forces were preventing ambulances from reaching the wounded. When Agence France-Presse (AFP) asked Israel’s army to respond to the tear gas allegation, they declined to comment.

Thursday’s fatalities bring the number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank so far this year to 29, including fighters and civilians, most of whom were shot by Israeli forces.

The mounting toll follows the deadliest year in the Palestinian territory since United Nations records began in 2005.

‘International silence’

Jenin deputy governor Kamal Abu al-Rub told AFP that residents were living in a “real state of war”. He also said:

The Israeli army is destroying everything and shooting at everything that moves.

The Palestinian presidency said Thursday’s raid on Jenin was happening “under international silence”. A spokesperson for Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said:

This is what encourages the occupation government to commit massacres against our people in full view of the world.

Palestinian health minister al-Kaila called for an urgent meeting with the World Health Organization and the International Committee of the Red Cross over the atrocities in Jenin.

Political analyst Aleef Sabbagh told Al-Jazeera:

The lack of a response – neither Arab nor international – over what Israel is doing, is encouraging it to continue with its raids and killings

The latest violence comes a day after Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinians in separate incidents. Israeli soldiers killed a 22-year-old near the West Bank city of Qalqilya. They also subsequently killed a 17-year-old boy who appeared to point a fake gun at police during a raid in the Shuafat refugee camp in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem. The teenager was the fifth Palestinian minor killed during operations by Israeli forces so far this month.

Featured image via YouTube screenshot/AFP News Agency

Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse