Casualties are piling up, with at least four Palestinians – including two minors – killed and dozens injured.
Israeli forces killed at least four people, including two minors, during raids on several sites in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials reported Wednesday.
Israeli forces shot dead a 13-year-old boy, identified as Rami al-Halhuli, in the Shu’fat refugee camp in occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday evening. Israeli Border Police said he had set off fireworks at them.
Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir expressed support for Israeli soldiers, amid outrage over the killing.
“I salute the fighter who killed the terrorist,” Ben-Gvir posted on X.
However, witnesses say the slain Palestinian teenager had fired the fireworks into the air and not at Israeli forces, Tel Aviv Tribune’s Laura Khan reported from occupied East Jerusalem.
“Testimonies corroborated two videos we saw. One of them shows the boy shooting fireworks into the air, not near Israeli soldiers. And the other shows him dejected, lying on the ground, and his mother is devastated,” Khan said.
“The mosque said it would declare a day of mourning tomorrow and a strike during which all businesses would be closed so that people would mourn his death.”
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said it had treated five others wounded by Israeli fire.
لحظة تفجير عبوة ناسفة بآلية إسرائيلية في جنين#حرب_غزة #فيديو pic.twitter.com/61XIK2U1fs
– الجزيرة فلسطين (@AJA_Palestine) March 13, 2024
Translation: The moment an explosive device was detonated by an Israeli vehicle in Jenin.
Nighttime Israeli raids were also reported in the town of Anabta, east of Tulkarem, where shots were fired, and in the village of Burin, south of Nablus, where Israeli forces attacked a vehicle, injuring a 35-year-old man and his three children. one month old child.
Israeli police said they shot dead five men near the town of al-Jib, northwest of Jerusalem, as they threw Molotov cocktails.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said Zaid Ward Shukri Khalifa, 23, and Abdullah Mamoun Hassan Assaf, 16, were killed, according to the Wafa news agency. The other three men who were shot are being treated at the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah.
“Border guards spotted five terrorists who had lit Molotov cocktails and intended to throw them at the drivers, putting their lives in danger. They opened fire on them, then arrested them and sent them for medical treatment,” Israeli police posted on their Arabic X account.
Israeli forces also stormed the grounds of the government hospital in Jenin, killing one Palestinian and injuring five others, Wafa reported. The victim, Rabie al-Noursi, was in his 20s, the agency said.
A Wafa correspondent reported that Israeli forces stormed the hospital courtyard and opened fire on a group of civilians who were in front of the emergency department.
This killing follows multiple raids in the town of Jenin and the Jenin refugee camp. Dozens of Israeli military vehicles and bulldozers, supported by drones and a special undercover unit, took part in the raid in the early hours of Wednesday, Wafa said.
Violence has increased in the occupied West Bank since the October 7 Hamas attack sparked the war in Gaza. At least 427 Palestinians have been killed there, most of them in clashes with Israeli forces, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Israeli-Palestinian tensions often rise during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began on Sunday, over access to the Al Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem.