A young man and 14-year-old child are among Israel’s latest Palestinian victims in the West Bank

On Thursday 27 July, Israeli troops killed a 14-year-old Palestinian child during yet another overnight raid in the occupied West Bank. It comes a day after Israeli troops killed a Palestinian man named Mohammed Abd al-Hakim Nada in the same region.

The shooting of 14-year-old Fares Abu Samrah occurred in the city of Qalqilya in the northern West Bank. The Israeli army claimed this is where it was conducting “counter-terrorism activity”.

The Palestinian official Wafa news agency reported:

The occupation forces had stormed the Naqar neighbourhood in the west of Qalqilya, which led to clashes…

The occupation forces fired live and rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas at residents and their homes.

The Palestinian health ministry identified Fares and said he died of bullet wounds to the head.

Third day of killings

On Wednesday, a Palestinian was killed in the main northern West Bank city of Nablus during what the army also described as “counter-terrorism activity”. Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that this was during a raid Israeli forces conducted at Al-Ain refugee camp in Nablus.

The Palestinian health ministry said:

A young man died of his wounds as the occupation forces stormed the city of Nablus at noon (0900 GMT).

The martyr, Mohammed Abd al-Hakim Nada, was shot in the chest.

Eyewitnesses told AFP that Israeli forces had stormed the neighbourhood of Al-Muhayim on Wednesday. They surrounded a house before arresting one Palestinian.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, a resistance group linked to the Palestinian Fatah movement, said its fighters had:

ambushed a unit of special forces in the alleys of Al-Ain camp … and managed to inflict casualties.

The group did not specify whether the dead man was one of its fighters.

Hamas, which controls the besieged coastal enclave of Gaza, condemned what it said was a “Zionist crime in Nablus”. The group called on all:

Palestinian factions to confront the terrorist settlers’ government.

Fares’s killing took place on the third consecutive day of Israel violence in the West Bank. On Tuesday, Israeli troops killed three Palestinians in an exchange of fire in Nablus, the Palestinian health ministry said. Hamas said the three were members of its armed wing.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.

Israel: violent occupiers

Since early last year, Israeli forces have killed more than 200 Palestinians. There has also been racist violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian communities, as well as a steady increase in Palestinian armed resistance.

Earlier this month, Israeli forces conducted a two-day raid on Jenin refugee camp, razing large swathes of the area and killing 12 Palestinians, including children.

The raid on Jenin was one of the biggest operations carried out by the Israeli army in the West Bank in years. Israeli forces used helicopter gunships and drones to fire on the city.

Palestinians are calling for solidarity. The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement is asking its international supporters to boycott Israeli goods, and push for a military embargo on the sale of weapons to Israel. Find out more at bdsmovement.net.

Via Agence France-Presse

Featured image via screenshot/Al Jazeera