An Israeli armored vehicle drives near an ambulance along a damaged street during an Israeli raid, in Jenin camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on January 22, 2025. (Photo by Reuters)
Ramallah, April 22 (RHC)-- At least three Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces as they expanded their deadly raids across the occupied West Bank in the last 24 hours and targeted unarmed civilians, health authorities said.
The official Palestinian news agency WAFA, citing a statement by the Ministry of Health, reported that 24-year-old Suleiman Fawwaz Manasrah, a resident of Qabatiya city, was fatally shot on Sunday night at the entrance to the Israeli Homesh settlement, and his body was subsequently withheld. Local sources had earlier reported hearing heavy gunfire near the entrance to the illegal settlement.
Eyewitnesses said they saw the body of the young man lying on the ground as Israeli forces gathered around it. Separately, a Palestinian teenager was critically wounded by Israeli occupation forces on Sunday evening during a military raid on the eastern part of Nablus.
Medical sources reported that the Israeli forces stormed the al-Masaken al-Sha’biya neighborhood of the city, triggering fierce confrontations. Israeli troops fired live ammunition and tear gas canisters to disperse the crowd.
A sixteen-year-old teenager was shot in the back with live fire and was rushed to the hospital, where his condition was described as critical.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health also said one person had died of suffocation from tear gas canisters fired by Israeli forces in the town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah, on Monday evening. WAFA identified the victim as 48-year-old Wa'el Basem Ghafri.
According to eyewitnesses, a group of settlers attacked an area of land separating Sinjil and the neighboring town of al-Mazra'a ash-Sharqiya. The settlers, under the protection of Israeli forces, set fire to a rural house.
Violent confrontations broke out in the town between local residents and Israeli forces, who opened live fire and used tear gas on the Palestinians. While no injuries from live ammunition were reported, dozens of citizens suffered from severe tear gas inhalation.
Later, the Ministry of Health confirmed that Ghafri had succumbed to the effects of the gas inhalation.
The Israeli military initiated its assault on the occupied West Bank on January 21, stating that the objective was to target the resistance fighters linked to the Jenin Battalion.
Since the beginning of the war on Gaza in October 2023, at least 952 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops and settlers, and more than 7,000 others injured in the West Bank.
Last July, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared that Israel’s long-standing occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal, demanding the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East al-Quds.
[ SOURCE: PRESS TV and REUTERS ]
