MEE Staff
Middle East Eye / August 15, 2023
Qusai al-Walaji, 16, and Mohammed Najum al-Omar, 25, shot dead in latest military operation on Aqbat Jabr refugee camp.
Israeli troops killed two Palestinians on Tuesday morning during a raid on Aqbat Jabr refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Jericho, the Palestinian health ministry said.
Qusai al-Walaji, 16, and Mohammed Najum al-Omar, 25, were shot with live bullets after Israeli forces stormed the camp to violently raid a number of homes and detain residents.
Walaji and Omar were taken to Jericho Government Hospital, where they were pronounced dead shortly after.
“Two young men were rushed to the hospital with bullets in their chests,” the hospital’s director told Reuters.
Armed confrontations broke out between camp residents and Israeli forces during the raid, but it was not clear whether the two men were involved, residents told Reuters.
Israeli forces detained a 20-year-old Palestinian during the operation, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society in Jericho.
Aqbat Jabr is home to around 30,000 people, and is the largest refugee camp in the occupied West Bank in terms of surface area.
It was established in 1948 to house refugees who were displaced by Al-Nakba (the Catastrophe), when 750,000 Palestinians were expelled to make way for the establishment of the State of Israel.
Latest raid on Aqbat Jabr camp
In recent months, the camp has been a regular target for Israeli military raids, despite Jericho being a tourist city less prone to Israeli violence compared to other parts of the West Bank.
In February, Israeli soldiers killed five members of the resistance group Aqbat Jabr Brigade during what was described as a “15-minute-raid“.
Since then, a further four Palestinians have been killed in the camp by Israeli security forces, including two minors: 17-year-old Jibril Muhammad al-Lada’a and 15-year-old Mohamed Faiz Balhan.
Tuesday’s raid brings the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the camp this year to 11.
Middle East Eye believes at least 212 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire this year, including 37 children – a rate of nearly one fatality per day.
A total of 176 people have died in the West Bank and East Jerusalem this year, making 2023 one of the bloodiest years in the occupied Palestinian territories. Another 36 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, Palestinians have killed 26 Israelis in the same period, including six children.
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An Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank kills 2 Palestinians, health officials say
AP / August 15, 2023
TEL AVIV – Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinians, including a 16-year-old, in a raid in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, Palestinian health officials said. The Israeli military said troops came under fire and shot back.
Israel has been carrying out near-nightly raids in the West Bank since last year in response to a spate of Palestinian attacks, what has fueled tensions in the region and sent the death toll soaring. The violence comes amid a spike in attacks on Palestinians by radical Jewish settlers, continued settlement expansion and as Israel is led by a government composed of ultranationalist settlement supporters.
The Palestinian Health Ministry identified those killed as Qusay al-Walaji, 16, and Mohammed Nujoom, 25. The statement added that the raid took place in the Jericho area, which has seen heavy fighting over the last 16 months.
The Israeli military said in its statement that Palestinians opened fire at forces operating in the Aqabat Jabr refugee camp near Jericho and the forces fired back.
Israeli-Palestinian violence in the West Bank has surged to levels unseen in nearly two decades, with more than 170 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since the start of 2023, according to a tally by The Associated Press.
Israel says most of those killed have been militants, but stone-throwing youths protesting the raids and others not involved in the confrontations have also been killed.
At least 27 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis during that time.
Israel says the raids are essential to dismantle militant networks and thwart future attacks. The Palestinians see the violence as a natural response to 56 years of occupation, including stepped-up settlement construction by Israel’s government and increased violence by Jewish settlers.
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. Palestinians seek those territories for their hoped-for independent state.
