Israeli army kills two Palestinians during West Bank raids
The Israeli military shot and killed two Palestinians on Thursday evening during raids in the occupied West Bank, leaving at least three people wounded.
The Palestinian health ministry named the dead as 25-year-old Habib Kamil and 18-year-old Abdel Hadi Nazal.
The Israeli army raided the village of Qabatiya, south of Jenin.
Kamil was killed by several bullets to the head, and Nazal as a result of being shot in the neck and chest, the health ministry said.
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The Israeli army said its forces entered Qabatiya to arrest Muhammad Alauna, a Palestinian suspected of planning attacks.
It’s not clear what Kamil and Nazal were doing during the raids.
Earlier on Thursday, Israeli forces killed Samir Awni Harbi Aslan, aged 41, during a raid in the Qalandia refugee camp in the suburbs of East Jerusalem.
According to Aslan’s sister, Noura Aslan, Israeli security forces broke into their house at 2:30am to arrest his 18-year-old son, Ramzi.
As Ramzi was being taken away, his father sprinted to the rooftop to see what was happening, she said. Within moments, an Israeli sniper shot him in the back.
In a statement, the Palestinian foreign ministry said that it “condemns in the strongest terms the heinous crime of field execution committed by the Israeli occupation forces against Samir Awni Harbi Aslan”.
The deaths on Thursday bring the total number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank this year to nine.
Deadliest year
According to data compiled by Middle East Eye, Israeli forces killed more Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in 2022 than in a single calendar year since the Second Intifada.
At least 220 people were killed in Israeli attacks across the occupied territories, including 48 children. Of the total death toll, 167 were from the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and 53 were from the Gaza Strip.
According to UN data, nearly 9,500 Palestinians from the West Bank were also wounded last year.
An additional five Palestinian citizens of Israel were killed in the same period. Meanwhile, in 2022 Palestinians killed at least 29 Israelis, including one child, the highest death toll since 2008.
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