Israeli forces kill young Palestinian, injure another in West Bank raid
Israeli forces have shot and killed a young Palestinian man and injured a teenager, according to Palestinian health officials, during a raid in the northern part of the West Bank that has become an increasingly deadly front in the aftermath of the Hamas-led October 7 operation.
The official Palestinian news agency WAFA, citing the Palestinian Health Ministry, identified the victim as 27-year-old Samer Nasser Rumana.
The report said that he was fatally shot as Israeli soldiers stormed the Balata refugee camp on the outskirts of the city of Nablus early on Sunday.
The victim was subsequently transported to Rafidia Governmental Hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly afterward, it added.
The Palestinian resistance group Lions’ Den mourned Rumana, saying he was one of its fighters in the Balata camp and died during clashes with Israeli forces.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) also stated that a 16-year-old teenager was shot in the back with live ammunition by Israeli soldiers during the raid on Balata camp. He was taken to hospital for medical treatment.
Earlier, Israeli troops had broken into the eastern flank of the camp, where confrontations erupted between the military forces and locals.
Israeli troops used live ammunition against the residents, resulting in casualties, reports say.
The Palestinian Hamas resistance movement says the occupying Israeli regime’s assassination policy will not undermine the Palestinian nation’s determination and won’t deter the resistance front.
Local sources were quoted as saying by media that Israeli troops stormed the eastern side of al-Quds Street in Nablus city and Balata refugee camp, and intensively opened fire at local youths during clashes with them.
Meanwhile, Israeli snipers were deployed on rooftops of some buildings in Nablus and Balata camp, while military bulldozers ploughed through roads and destroyed infrastructure.
Resistance fighters reportedly exchanged fire with Israeli soldiers and targeted a bulldozer with an explosive device.
Since Hamas carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Strom into the occupied territories on October 7 and Israel unleashed a genocidal war on the besieged Gaza Strip in response, casualties have also seen a spike in the West Bank as a result of intensified near-daily Israeli raids into its villages and cities.
Nearly 500 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or extremist Jewish settlers since the war began. According to the UN 2023 was the deadliest year yet for Palestinians in the West Bank since the United Nations began keeping such records in 2005.
At least 34,971 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have also been killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip over the past seven months.
