Palestinian women stand near the damaged site of a drone attack in the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank [Mohammed Torokman/Reuters]
Ramallah, August 27 (RHC)-- An Israeli air attack on the Nur Shams refugee camp in the occupied West Bank has killed five Palestinians, including two teenagers.
Reporting from Ramallah, in the West Bank, Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim said on Tuesday the strike occurred overnight, with Israeli forces reportedly targeting leaders of armed resistance groups in the camp.
“Medical sources tell us they’ve received the bodies and body parts of five Palestinians who were killed in the Israeli air strike on the Nur Shams refugee camp,” Ibrahim said.
“Israeli forces have been looking to target Abu Shuja’a, who has been one of the leaders, if not the main leader, of the Tulkarem and the Nur Shams battalion in the refugee camp, and he has survived several assassination attempts,” she added.
Palestinian news agency Wafa identified the two teenagers killed as Adnan Jaber, 15, and Mohammed Ahmad Elayyan, 16.
The others killed were Mohannad Qarawi, 19, Jibril Ghassan Jibril, 20, and Mohammed Ali Yusif, 49, Wafa reported.
Jibril was freed as part of a deal between Palestinian group Hamas and Israel in November that saw the release of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons for captives in the Gaza Strip, Ibrahim reported.
Following the air raid, Palestinian parties declared a general strike on Tuesday in the Tulkarem governorate to protest against the killings.
Hamas condemned the attack and called on Palestinians in the West Bank to intensify their struggle against Israel’s occupation.
There have been about 50 Israeli air attacks in the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza – the majority of them in Tulkarem, Jenin and Nablus.
There has also been an uptick in violence in the West Bank due to attacks by Israeli settlers. On Tuesday, settlers shot dead one Palestinian man and wounded six others as they attacked Palestinian homes in the village of Wadi Rahal, near Bethlehem.
Wafa, citing the Palestinian Ministry of Health, identified the man killed as Khalil Salem Khalawi. The 40-year-old died of his wounds after Israeli settlers attacked homes near the village’s boys’ school and opened fire at Palestinians living there, the agency said.
Hamdi Ziyada, the head of the Wadi Rahal village council, told Wafa that Israeli forces raided the village “to provide protection for the settlers and fired sound bombs and toxic gas” at residents.
Since the start of the year, Israeli settlers have carried out 1,334 attacks in the West Bank and killed at least seven Palestinians, Wafa reported.
“These assaults have been skyrocketing since the war started and Palestinians say the sense of impunity that Israeli settlers feel is allowing them to continue attacking Palestinians and their homes,” said Ibrahim.
