Palestinian protesters confront an Israeli bulldozer during a raid by the regime’s army on the Askar refugee camp, situated on the outskirts of the West Bank city of Nablus, May 30, 2023. (Photo by the Quds News Network)
Ramallah, May 30 (RHC)-- Israeli forces stormed a refugee camp on the outskirts of the West Bank city of Nablus on Tuesday, injuring more than 40 Palestinians, Palestinian media reported. Some 46 Palestinians were treated for wounds during the raid on the Askar refugee camp which took place in the predawn hours of Tuesday morning, Ahmad Jibril, the head of the Emergency and Ambulance Department at the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, said. The report added that 44 of the injured Palestinians suffered tear gas inhalation.
Palestinian security sources said a large unit of Israeli forces broke into the family house of Hasan Qatanani and mapped it out before a planned demolition. Palestinian youth Qatanani was killed by Israeli forces earlier this month. The regime’s army claimed that he was responsible for the April shooting attack in the Jordan Valley which killed three settlers.
During the raid, the sources said, the Israeli soldiers also broke into several other houses and measured the home of the slain Palestinian Hussam Saleem. He had allegedly planned and directed a shooting attack by the Nablus-based Palestinian resistance group Lions’ Den that killed an Israeli soldier in the northern West Bank last October.
The regime razes Palestinian homes to punish the family of those who allegedly carried out operations against Israeli forces. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) calls the practice “collective punishment” of Palestinians. The UN agency deems the practice “illegal under international law.”
Additionally, on Tuesday, the occupation forces raided the Nur Shams refugee camp, near the West Bank city of Tulkarm, sparking clashes with Palestinian resistance fighters. The raid was conducted for making preparation to demolish the home of a Hamas resistance fighter who was allegedly behind a shooting attack in February in the town of Huwara, south of Nablus.
