Al-Jazeera / June 24, 2023
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed the 17-year-old gunman, who opened fire at a West Bank checkpoint, as a member.
A Palestinian teenager was left bleeding to death after a shooting attack at Qalandia military checkpoint in the occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian news agency WAFA.
Ishaq Hamdi Ajlouni, 17, was shot and killed by Israeli forces after he opened fire at the checkpoint on Saturday, lightly wounding a security guard, the agency said.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed Aljouni as a member. The group is the armed wing of Fatah – the movement that controls the Palestinian Authority, which has limited self-rule in the occupied territory.
“Our heroic fighters … were able to directly target occupation [Israeli] soldiers at Qalandia checkpoint,” the brigades said in a statement.
Police said the young gunman, from the Kufr Aqab neighbourhood just north of the checkpoint, used an M-16 rifle to carry out the shooting.
The Qalandia checkpoint is the main gateway used by Palestinians between occupied east Jerusalem and Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
Violence has engulfed the West Bank this past week since Israeli forces stormed the Jenin refugee camp to arrest two suspects on Monday.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk on Friday condemned Israel’s use of “advanced military weaponry” in the raids, while the United States said the same day it is “actively engaging” with Israel after the surge in violence.
Israeli forces deployed helicopter gunships during the raid of the Jenin camp – a 20-year first in the West Bank – with the gunships pummeling the camp and, in addition to the deaths, injuring 91 people.
A day after the deadly raid, Palestinian gunmen killed four Jewish settlers at a petrol station between the Palestinian cities of Ramallah and Nablus.
Hours after that shooting, Israeli settlers stormed through Palestinian towns, torching property and smashing cars, killing one Palestinian man.
Tensions in the region have been high as Israel has been expanding its military raids in the occupied territory in recent months under its most right-wing government yet.
More than 700,000 Jewish settlers live in illegal Jewish settlements not recognized by international law in the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 War.
SOURCE: AL-JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
_____
Israeli forces kill Palestinian gunman who opened fire at Qalandia checkpoint
The National / June 24, 2023
The Palestinian militant group Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade claimed the attack in the West Bank.
A Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli forces, after opening fire at a military checkpoint north of Jerusalem on Saturday and lightly wounding two guards, Israeli authorities said.
The Qalandia checkpoint is used by the Israeli military to control Palestinian access to occupied East Jerusalem and Israel.
A militant group claimed responsibility for the gunman’s attack, the latest incident in months of escalating violence.
Israeli police said a “suspect opened fire at the security forces operating at the crossing”.
The Palestinian had approached Israeli troops stationed at the Qalandia checkpoint early in the morning and pulled out an M16 rifle, the police said.
Troops said they shot back, killing the assailant. According to the Israeli rescue service, two security guards in their 20s were admitted to hospital with minor wounds — at least one from bullet fragments.
The attacker has not been identified.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, a Palestinian militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack.
“Our heroic fighters were able to directly target occupation [Israeli] soldiers at Qalandia checkpoint,” it said.
The shooting caps a bloody week in the West Bank that left 15 Palestinians and four Israelis dead.
An hours-long gun battle between Israeli security forces and Palestinian militants in the northern Jenin refugee camp killed seven Palestinians and wounded eight Israeli soldiers earlier this week. Two Palestinian gunmen then killed four Israeli civilians before being shot and killed.
An Israeli air strike by a drone killed three Palestinian militants in a car while Israeli settler revenge attacks left one Palestinian dead, many wounded and a trail of destruction through Palestinian towns.
This year has been one of the deadliest for Palestinians in the West Bank in years.
The Palestinian Health Ministry says that 174 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army in Palestinian territories since the start of the year.
Israel says most of the Palestinian dead this year were militants, but stone-throwing youths protesting the incursions and others not involved in confrontations have also been killed.
