Al-Jazeera / August 10, 2023
Amir Khalifa, 27, a fighter with the armed Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade group, was shot in head and back during the raid near Nablus.
A Palestinian armed fighter was shot dead by Israeli forces during a raid on a village near the occupied West Bank town of Nablus, the Palestinian health ministry has said.
Amir Ahmad Khalifa, 27, was shot in the head and in the back after Israeli soldiers stormed the village of Zawata, west of Nablus.
He was transferred to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead later.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group associated with the Fatah party, claimed Khalifa, who was a resident of the Ein Beit al-Ma’ refugee camp, as a member.
TWEET – Translation: Press coverage: “The young man Amir Khalifa from Ein [Beit al-Ma’] refugee camp has been martyred following an injury by Israeli bullets in Zawata area, west of Nablus.”
The Israeli military said that a Palestinian suspect fired at its troops during a “counterterrorism activity” in Nablus, adding that “hits were identified”.
Speaking to the AFP news agency, a family member who requested anonymity for security reasons, said Khalifa was “wanted by Israeli forces for two years and had refused to surrender”.
On Tuesday, Israeli forces blew up the home of a Palestinian man who allegedly killed two settlers last February.
The latest violence in the occupied West Bank has been a continuation of Israel’s near-nightly incursions on Palestinian cities and towns, which has corresponded with the rise of armed Palestinian groups in the occupied West Bank.
More than 200 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since the beginning of the year, with the United Nations warning that 2023 is on track to be the deadliest year for Palestinians since it started recording fatalities.
At least 27 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis this year.
SOURCE: AL-AZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
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Israeli forces kill Palestinian man in West Bank raid
MEE Staff
Middle East Eye / August 10, 2023
Brother of slain Palestinian says he was killed in ambush by Israeli forces near Nablus.
Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man during a military raid in the occupied West Bank on Thursday morning.
Amir Khalifa, 27, was shot in the head by Israeli forces in the Zawata area, west of Nablus, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Israeli forces stormed Nablus from several directions, triggering clashes with Palestinian fighters in the city.
Khalifa’s brother told local media that he was killed in an ambush by Israeli forces, who lured him outside Al-Ain refugee camp, where he lived, then “assassinated him”.
According to the Palestinian media outlet Arab48, Khalifa was wanted for more than two years by Israel.
Middle East Eye believes at least 209 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire this year, including 36 children – a rate of nearly one fatality per day.
A total of 173 people have died in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, making 2023 one of the bloodiest years in the occupied Palestinian territories. Another 36 people were killed in the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, Palestinians have killed 26 Israelis in the same period, including six children.
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Israeli forces kill Palestinian militant in West Bank clash
Reuters / August 10, 2023
RAMALLAH, West Bank – Israeli forces killed a Palestinian militant in a clash in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade armed group said.
The Israeli military said that while operating in the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank, the scene of frequent army raids and fatal clashes over the past 15 months, a Palestinian suspect fired at its troops who shot back.
The military said “hits were identified” and the Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed one man was killed.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an armed group associated with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party, claimed the fighter as a member.
U.S.-brokered peace talks aimed at establishing a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem broke down in 2014 and show no sign of resumption.
Violence has worsened since last year in the West Bank, territory which Israel captured in the 1967 war and where Palestinians have limited self-rule.
Reporting by Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem, Ali Swafta in Ramallah and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; editing by Bernadette Baum
