By Qais Abu Samra & The Muslim News staff

JENIN, Palestine (AA, imemc, Wafa): Two Palestinians were killed and five others injured by the Israeli army in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, according to Palestinian sources. Two others were killed by Israeli forcers on Wednesday.

“The result of the Israeli aggression on Jenin this morning is a martyr (Saeb Essam Mahmoud Azriqi, 24), and five injuries, including a serious injury,” the Palestinian Health Ministry said in a statement.

The official Voice of Palestine radio said in an earlier statement that “young man, Ezzedin Salahat (26), was shot dead by the Israeli army in the Jenin refugee camp.”

On Thursday, eyewitnesses told Anadolu that an Israeli soldier stormed the Jenin refugee camp, which led to clashes between dozens of Palestinians and the Israeli army.

The Palestinian Health Ministry has confirmed Wednesday the death of a Palestinian child who Israeli Border Police officers shot in Shu’fat refugee camp, northeast of occupied Jerusalem, in the West Bank, reported imem.org.

The Health Ministry said the child, Mohammad Ali, 17, was fatally wounded during protests that took place when the army invaded the refugee camp to demolish the home of a slain Palestinian.

Israeli media said the child aimed a toy gun at the soldiers and border police officers, but they shot and killed him “because they didn’t know it was fake.”

The Israeli “Border Police” claimed there was no way to know the gun was fake because it “looked real,” but could not negate the facts, captured on police video, clearly showing the child running away after already dropping the “gun.”

Israeli daily, Jerusalem Post, said the police later discovered that the gun was a dummy, adding that although the officers could not have been sure it was a toy gun in advance, it remains “unclear whether the killing was justified, given that at the moment he was hit, the child had thrown away the “weapon” and was running away.

It stated that a response from the police failed to address the issue of the slain child being shot after dropping the toy gun and fleeing but said the child “showed open signs of presenting a threat.”

The Israeli army refused to comment on the fatal shooting and only stated that even though the soldiers were there, the “incident is managed by the border police, not the military, because it took place in East Jerusalem, not other parts of the West Bank.

The child was officially pronounced dead after he was taken to Hadassah Israeli medical center in Jerusalem. His family tried to take his body for burial, but their request was denied.

Furthermore, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said the soldiers shot a young man with a live round in the shoulder and caused dozens to suffer the effects of tear gas inhalation.

Also Wednesday, the soldiers killed Aref Abdul-Nasser Lahlouh, 20, from Jenin refugee camp, after an alleged ‘stabbing attack’ near the illegal Kedumim colony, built on stolen Palestinian lands near Kufur Qaddoum town, east of Qalqilia, in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.

In a statement, the Israeli army claimed that the young man, reportedly carrying a knife, arrived at the military roadblock near Kedumim colony, and attempted to stab a soldier before other soldiers shot him.

It stated the Palestinian reportedly “chased a soldier who fired at him, causing him to fall on the ground, but managed to get up and run towards him again before he was fatally shot. The army said no soldiers were hurt in the incident.

Furthermore, the soldiers refused to allow Palestinian medics to approach the young man or take his corpse away.

A few hours after killing him, the soldiers abducted his father, Abdul-Nasser, while crossing a military back on his way back home.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida, al-Ayyam and al-Quds newspapers said that a 20-year-old Palestinian from Jenin refugee camp, identified as Aref Abdul Nasser Lahlouh, was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers near the northern West Bank city of Qalqilya.

Israel informed the Palestinian side that Lahlouh was killed following an alleged stabbing attack near the settlement of Kadumim but that none of its forces were hurt.

The dailies added that a Palestinian Wednesday evening succumbed to his wounds sustained earlier by Israeli army gunfire in Shufat refugee camp, northeast of the occupied West Bank city of East Jerusalem, according to local sources, reported Wafa news agency.

They confirmed that 17-year-old Mohammad Ali died of his critical wounds he sustained earlier after being shot by Israeli army in the chest with a live round in the course of confrontations with Israeli forces that raided the camp.

Tensions have been running high across the West Bank for weeks amid repeated Israeli raids to detail what they say “wanted Palestinians” or to demolish Palestinian homes. The raids have sparked clashes with Palestinians, causing several fatalities.
His death brings the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli army fire in the first 25 days of this year to twenty two, including five children.

FULL LIST OF PALESTINIANS KILLED BY THE ISRAEL ARMY SINCE THE START OF 2023:
 

January 26: Ezzedin Salahat, 26,

January 26: Saeb Essam Mahmoud Azriqi, 24,

January 25: Mohammad Ali, 17

January 25: Aref Abdul-Rahman Lahlouh, 22.

January 19: Tareq Odah Yousef Ma’ali, 42,

January 19: Jawad Farid Hussein Bawaqna, 58.

January 19: Adham Mohammad Bassem Jabarin, 26.

January 17: Hamdi Shaker Abdullah Abu Dayya, 40

January 16: Amro Khaled Al-Khmour, 14.

January 15: Ahmad Hasan Kahala, 45.

January 14: Yazan Samer Ja’bari, 19.

January 14: Amjad Adnan Khaliliyya, 23.

January 14: Ezzeddin Bassem Hamamra, 24.

January 12: Habib Mohammad Kamil, 25.

January 12: Abdul-Hadi Fakhri Nazzal, 18.

January 12: Samir Awni Aslan, 41.

January 11: Ahmad Amer Abu Jneid, 21.

January 11: Sanad Mohammad Samamra, 19.

January 05: Amer Abu Zeitoun, 16.

January 03: Adam Essam Ayyad, 15.

January 02: Fuad Mohammad ‘Aabed, 17.

January 02: Mohammad Samer Houshiyya, 22.