The occupied West Bank became the scene of violence again on Friday, when two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli army operation in Jenin and another was killed by soldiers hours later after firing into a settlement north of Ramallah.
The Israeli army reported that on Friday morning it had carried out a raid in Jenin, a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, during which some soldiers were shot at by “armed suspects”.
Israeli forces “responded with live ammunition”, the army added, noting that some people hit had been “identified”.
Doctor Abdalah Al Ahmad was shot in the head outside the Jenin hospital, where he died, the Palestinian ministry said.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohamed Shtayé condemned the “assassination”, which occurred, according to him, when the doctor was trying to help another wounded Palestinian.
The latter, identified by the ministry as Mateen Debaya, was also shot dead.
The military wing of the Al Fatah movement indicated that the doctor was a “commander” of the group and that he was killed in “armed clashes” with Israeli forces.
Five other people were injured in the operation, according to the Palestinian ministry.
The Israeli army indicated that during the operation a member of the armed Islamist movement Hamas, Diaa Salama, “responsible for recent attacks against the security forces and (who) planned others” was arrested.
Other people were detained in Jenin and other parts of the West Bank, according to the army, including in the Nablus city region, where according to the Palestinian Red Cross 66 people were injured during Israeli operations.
“The blood of our martyrs will fuel a new Intifada,” the Hamas movement, which is in power in the Gaza Strip, said on Friday.
Hours later, on Friday night, another Palestinian was killed by Israeli soldiers after shooting in the direction of the Beit-El settlement, north of Ramallah, in the northern West Bank.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, it was Qais Shajaeyah, 23 years old.
According to the Israeli army, a resident who was outside his home was hit and slightly injured by the Palestinian’s shots.
The army said it is searching for a second suspect who managed to flee.
-Multiple operations-
Violence has increased in recent months in the north of the occupied West Bank, especially in Nablus and Jenin, where the Israeli army has multiplied its operations in response to attacks against Israelis earlier this year, according to the Israeli government.
These operations left more than a hundred Palestinians dead, the highest number in the West Bank for seven years, according to the UN.
On Wednesday, US diplomatic spokesman Ned Price lamented “an alarming rise in the number of Palestinian and Israeli deaths and injuries, many of them children.”
Last Saturday, two Palestinian teenagers were killed during an attack in Jenin and on Monday a 12-year-old boy succumbed to injuries sustained in a military operation last month, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said.
Israeli forces are currently searching for the attackers who killed two soldiers in separate incidents last week.
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said Thursday that “the security forces will continue to be mobilized as long as the terrorists and those who sent them are not arrested.”
The West Bank is a Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 by the Israeli state.
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AFP