Two Palestinians were shot dead yesterday by the Israeli occupation army in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, the Palestinian Ministry of Health has said.
“Two citizens were killed by the occupation’s bullets in Nablus,” the ministry said in a statement yesterday, after raiding two parts of the city. It added that the two were identified as Muhammed Hallaq Al-Qatouni and Muhammed Junaid Abu Bakr, who are affiliated with the Lions’ Den resistance group.
They were accused of being involved in an attack in February that killed two Israelis in the Palestinian town of Huwara.
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Ahmad Jibril, the head of the Palestinian Red Crescent, said several residents in the Al-Makhfiyeh neighbourhood were injured after inhaling tear gas fired by Israeli occupation forces during the raid.
Two Palestinians, Izz Al-Din Touqan and Nidal Tabanja, were arrested during the raid after being accused l of having assisted Junaidi with the murder of the Israelis.
Dozens of illegal Israeli settlers attacked Huwara in February and carried out arson attacks on several Palestinian homes and vehicles, burning them to the ground. A Palestinian was killed in the attack and over 300 were injured.
There has been an increase in the number of Israeli raids across the occupied West Bank over the past few months, particularly in Nablus and Jenin, coupled with violence carried out by illegal settlers who have, at times, even turned against Israeli forces.
The deaths of Hallaq and Junaid have taken the total number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces this year to 94. Last year was deemed the deadliest for the occupied West Bank since 2015, however this year’s death toll has already exceeded the number of deaths seen in 2022.
Montather Rassoul