Two Palestinians were killed Wednesday in separate Israeli attacks in the occupied West Bank, the latest deadly confrontation after the most right-wing and religiously conservative government upends Israeli politics.
Wednesday's violence was the latest in a surge in attacks in the West Bank, following the deadliest year for Palestinians in the territory in 18 years.
During a pre-dawn Israeli military incursion into the hardscrabble Balata refugee camp in the city of Nablus, Israeli forces shot 21-year-old Ahmed Abu Junaid in the head and he died several hours later, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
In this context, the Israeli occupation reported several arrest raids across the West Bank including in the Balata refugee camp where a gunfight allegedly erupted between Palestinian militants and Israeli forces, the army said, acknowledging that a Palestinian was hit.
Palestinian health officials said that Israeli forces surrounded a house in the congested camp during the arrest operation and unleashed live fire, tear gas and stun grenades at a crowd of young men.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, an armed militia affiliated with Fatah, the secular political party that controls the Palestinian Authority, claimed Abu Junaid as a fighter.
Also Wednesday, a Palestinian was shot and killed by an Israeli passer-by while carrying out what Israeli described as a stabbing attack on a Jewish settler at a settlement in the southern West Bank.
The attack took place at the Havat Yehuda outpost, an illegal settlement near the flash point city of Hebron. Israel has constructed dozens of Jewish settlements that are home to around 500,000 Israelis who live alongside around 2.5 million Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinians and the international community view the settlements as a violation of international law.
Today's deaths bring the toll of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire so far in 2023 to six.
Follow the latest news on Google News
