A young Palestinian man was martyred by Israeli occupation forces’ fire during their storming of Nour Shams camp in the northern West Bank, bringing the number of martyrs in Tulkarm and Nour Shams camps to 8 since yesterday, Wednesday, coinciding with the occupation’s incursions into several cities and towns throughout the West Bank.
The Palestinian News Agency (Wafa) quoted eyewitnesses inside the camp that the occupation army left the young man – whose identity is not yet known – bleeding on the ground for many hours, without allowing ambulances to reach him.
Pictures taken by citizens of the camp revealed that the occupation forces tied the martyr’s feet, dragged him on the ground, and abused him.
A number of citizens were injured by occupation sniper bullets deployed on the roofs of tall buildings in the camp and its surroundings, without knowing the extent of the injury and its fate, due to preventing ambulances from entering the camp and hindering their field work.
The Red Crescent reported that its teams were able to reach 3 casualties, the first of a young man whose condition was described as critical after being hit by live bullets in the abdomen, the second of a young man in the thigh, and the third of a child with live bullet fragments in the eye, and they were all taken to the hospital.
Wafa Agency reported that the occupation forces blew up a number of citizens’ homes and facilities after booby-trapping them and forcing their residents and residents of neighboring homes to evacuate them at gunpoint, causing major destruction to them and to the surrounding buildings, and thick smoke spreading overhead.
The occupation forces also stormed citizens’ homes and shops, broke their contents, and destroyed dozens of citizens’ vehicles in the vicinity of the Bilal bin Rabah Mosque in the camp.
The occupation forces continued a massive arrest campaign that included hundreds of young men, detained them for long hours, and transferred them from one place to another to field investigation centers in a number of homes, under poor conditions of blindfolding, tying their hands, and assaulting many of them with severe beatings and death threats.
Human rights activists described the camp as a disaster area due to the occupation forces bombing the homes of those they described as wanted, in addition to the depletion of supplies in the camp as a result of the Israeli siege.
Storming several cities and towns
The Israeli occupation forces stormed the city of Al-Dhahiriya, south of Hebron. The occupation soldiers fired tear gas bombs and sound bombs, beat citizens, searched their vehicles, and closed shops in the city.
The occupation forces also stormed the town of Bani Naim, east of Hebron. The occupation forces sent military reinforcements into the town, while its sniper soldiers mounted the roofs of buildings in the center of the town.
Confrontations broke out between these forces and Palestinian youths, during which a young man was injured by live bullets in the foot and was subsequently taken to the hospital, before they withdrew from the town. Coinciding with the storming, a march took place in the streets of Bani Naim to denounce what the occupation forces were doing.
The storming of the town of Bani Naim is the second after the storming carried out by the occupation forces at dawn yesterday, during which they raided the homes of the perpetrators of the Raanana operation north of Tel Aviv, which resulted in the killing of an Israeli woman, the injury of 18 others, and the arrest of the perpetrators of the operation.
The occupation forces also stormed Al-Arroub camp, north of the city of Hebron, and raided neighborhoods in the camp and arrested a number of young Palestinians, including freed prisoners, after raiding their homes and tampering with their contents. The occupation forces also assaulted a number of citizens during their arrest.
Palestinian sources said that the occupation forces stormed the town of Kafr Laqif, east of Qalqilya. The Israeli army announced earlier that a soldier was injured by an explosive device thrown at him in the city of Qalqilya.
The occupation forces stormed the city and raided neighborhoods searching for those they described as wanted persons, amid gunfire.
In Nablus, in the northern West Bank, the occupation forces stormed the city from its eastern and western axes and conducted patrols there.
The occupation forces stormed the town of Zawata, west of Nablus, and raided several neighborhoods in the town, leading to the outbreak of confrontations between Palestinian citizens and the occupation soldiers.
The incursion also caused armed clashes between resistance fighters and the invading forces, including throwing flares into the sky of the town, and throwing homemade explosive devices at the occupation vehicles, which fired live bullets, stun grenades, and gas bombs.
Also in Nablus, residents mourned the body of young man Yazan al-Najmi, who was martyred with his brother and three other resistance fighters in the bombing of an Israeli march on their car in Balata camp at dawn yesterday.
A funeral procession departed from Rafidia Hospital in the city to his hometown in Balata refugee camp, and mourners chanted angry slogans denouncing the ongoing Israeli crimes against the Palestinians. The martyr’s family bid farewell to him at his home before he was buried in the martyrs’ cemetery in the camp.
The Israeli occupation forces withdrew from Al-Amari camp in Ramallah Governorate after storming it for hours, imposing a siege on it from all directions, and raiding several neighborhoods, which led to the outbreak of confrontations between Palestinian youths and the occupation forces.
Pictures show the moment an explosive device was detonated by an occupation bulldozer in Nour Shams camp#Gaza_War pic.twitter.com/eCJXlYuWdN
– Tel Aviv Tribune Channel (@AJArabic) January 18, 2024
Continuous arrests
Today, the number of detainees in the West Bank has risen to 6,090 detainees since October 7, 2023 (the date of the start of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood) after the occupation arrested 60 Palestinians last night, including children and former prisoners, according to what Anatolia reported from a joint statement by the Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners’ Affairs Authority and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club.
While the Israeli army continues its raids and escalation operations in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli newspaper “Haaretz” quoted security officials as saying that the situation there is “on the verge of explosion.”
Since the Palestinian resistance launched the “Al-Aqsa Flood” and the start of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, the occupation has intensified its military operations in the West Bank, and increased the pace of incursions and raids into Palestinian cities, towns and camps, leaving more than 365 martyrs and about 4,200 wounded, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.