Al-Jazeera / August 4, 2023
Mahmoud Abu Sa’an, 18, killed during an Israeli raid in Tulkarem, while Jewish settlers later kill Qusai Matan, 19, in Burqa.
Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian teenager during one of their daily pre-dawn raids into the occupied West Bank, before another Palestinian teenager was killed in a separate incident by settlers, according to local media and the Palestinian Health Ministry.
The Palestinian Health Ministry late on Friday announced the death of Qusai Jamal Maatan, 19, saying he was “shot dead by settlers in the village of Burqa”, east of Ramallah.
Armed settlers had stormed the village and sparked fighting with residents. The Israeli army said it was looking into the reports.
Earlier, Israeli soldiers had shot dead another young Palestinian, 18-year-old Mahmoud Abu Sa’an. He was shot in the head by Israeli soldiers at point-blank range as they stormed the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarem early Friday, the health ministry said.
The official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that local witnesses said an Israeli soldier got out of one of the military vehicles and shot Abu Sa’an in the head while he was lying on the ground.
Abu Sa’an, who had graduated from high school weeks earlier, was taken to Thabet Thabet Hospital in Tulkarem where he was pronounced dead.
Later on Friday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said that armed settlers had entered the village of Burqa, east of the city of Ramallah, and shot and killed 19-year-old Qusai Matan. The Israeli army said it was looking into the reports.
“The youth of the village went out to confront them using stones. Settlers opened fire, they killed one person and wounded others,” said one witness who asked not to be named.
TWEET : Translation: The young man Mahmoud Abu Sa’an who was martyred by occupation gunfire in the Tulkarm refugee camp at dawn today. He was among those who passed high school [exams] this year.
Tulkarem raid
Fierce confrontations broke out during the raid in Tulkarem between Palestinian residents and Israeli forces, which had snipers stationed on the rooftops of several Palestinian homes in the camp.
The raid sparked fighting with residents of the camp, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad armed group reported, with Israeli forces shooting tear gas, stun grenades and live fire and Palestinians hurling stones and opening fire at the soldiers.
Local media reports said that armed Palestinians targeted the Israeli army with homemade explosive devices, and that three wanted residents were arrested during Friday’s raid into the town.
The overnight Tulkarem raid was part of an Israeli military arrest operation. The army said it arrested five Palestinians in other occupied West Bank villages, confiscating explosives and dispersing protests in the village Biddu near the city of Ramallah.
The armed Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Tulkarem described Abu Sa’an’s killing as an execution.
“This unarmed young man did not possess weapons and had nothing to do with any military action,” the group said in a statement. “He is unarmed and was executed in a brutal manner.”
The Israeli military said soldiers shot at suspects who fired and hurled explosives and stones at troops operating around the northern West Bank city of Tulkarm. It said one person was hit but reported no injuries to its forces.
Fighting between Israel and the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank intensified early last year when Israel launched near-nightly raids into Palestinian areas.
More than 200 Palestinians have been killed this year in the occupied Palestinian territories and the Gaza Strip, with the majority of these fatalities recorded in the occupied West Bank.
Those figures indicate that 2023 is already the deadliest year for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since the United Nations began keeping track of fatalities in 2005.
At least 26 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis during that time.
SOURCE: AL-JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
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Israeli forces kill Palestinian teen in West Bank raid
MEE Staff
Middle East Eye / August 4, 2023
Mahmoud Abu Saan, 18, was fatally shot by Israeli forces at point blank range, according to eyewitnesses.
Israeli forces killed an 18-year-old Palestinian during a military raid in the occupied West Bank on Friday morning.
The official Palestinian news agency, WAFA, reported that the dead teenager was Mahmoud Abu Saan, killed at the Nour Shams refugee camp, east of Tulkarm.
Quoting Palestinian eyewitnesses, WAFA said that Abu Saan was shot in the head at point blank range and was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
Following the Israeli raid, a local wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group opened fire on Israeli forces, detonating several explosive devices.
Human rights organizations have described night raids as one of the methods used by the Israeli army to terrorize Palestinians and hammer home the idea that even their safest spaces are not off-limits for Israeli soldiers.
The raids can last for hours and sometimes turn deadly.
According to testimonies taken by rights organizations, night raids leave permanent scars on Palestinian families, traumatizing children in particular, who, as a result, suffer from anxiety and sleep disorders and struggle at school.
At least 202 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire this year, including 34 children – a rate of nearly one fatality per day.
A total of 165 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.
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2 Palestinians killed in separate episodes in latest West Bank violence
Julia Frankel
AP / August 4, 2023
JERUSALEM – Israeli security forces killed an 18-year-old Palestinian during a military raid into the northern West Bank on Friday, Palestinian health officials said, while another Palestinian was killed when Jewish settlers stormed a village and sparked fighting with residents.
The deaths marked the latest bloodshed in a months-long surge of violence that has gripped the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said that Mahmoud Abu Saan, 18, was shot in the head by Israeli forces in the city of Tulkarem. The raid drew protests from residents, the local branch of Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group reported, with Israeli forces shooting tear gas, stun grenades and live fire and Palestinians hurling stones and explosives at the soldiers.
The Israeli army said it shot at those who attacked them. It said it arrested five Palestinians in other West Bank villages, confiscating explosives and also dispersing protests.
Later Friday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said that armed settlers had entered the village of Burqa, east of the city of Ramallah, and shot and killed 19-year-old Qusai Matan. The Palestinian Red Crescent said Matan, who was shot in the neck, died shortly after reaching the hospital.
The Israeli army said it was looking into the reports.
Palestinian Authority official Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors Jsettlements, said that dozens of settlers burst into the village, setting fire to two cars and opening fire at Palestinian protesters who poured into the street to throw stones. Another two Palestinians were shot and wounded by the settlers, he said.
The office of Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh demanded that the perpetrators “not be allowed to escape punishment.”
Violence has spiraled in the northern West Bank with the rise of shooting attacks by Palestinian groups against Israelis and daily arrest raids by the Israeli military, and growing attacks by extremist Jewish settlers.
The surge in fighting is one of the worst between Israelis and Palestinians in nearly two decades. More than 150 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the start of 2023 in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, according to a tally by The Associated Press.
Israel says most killed have been militants who died during military raids, but stone-throwing youths protesting army raids and innocent bystanders have also been killed.
At least 26 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis so far this year.
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.
Associated Press reporter Isabel DeBre in Jerusalem contributed to this report
