By Qais Omar Darwesh Omar and Hamdi Yildiz
RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA): Israeli forces killed at least five Palestinians during raids in the occupied West Bank on Monday.
Four Palestinians were killed in the city of Nablus and another in Nabi Salih, near Ramallah, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
The Health Ministry has confirmed the army shot twenty-four Palestinians, adding that most of the wounded Palestinians were shot in the upper body; four of them suffered serious injuries.
In an official statement, the Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah identified the slain Palestinians in Nablus as:
- Hamdi Sbeih Ramzi Qayyim, 30.
- Ali Khaled Omar Antar, 26.
- Hamdi Mohammad Sabri Sharaf, 35.
- Wadea’ Sbeih Hweih, 31.
- and a fifth one, Mashal Zahi Ahmad Baghdadi, 27, died from serious wounds he suffered during the massive Israeli military invasion of Nablus.
According to a report by Palestinian state television, violence erupted when Israeli security forces who had entered Nablus were spotted by Palestinian security officers.
Later, the Palestinian presidency in a statement aired on state television “strongly” condemned the incident, describing it as “a war crime.”
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that three-hour-long intense clashes took place and explosions were heard during the operation by Israeli forces against a Palestinian group calling itself the Lion’s Den.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said the soldiers stopped its ambulances and prevented the medics from reaching wounded Palestinians in the Al-Qaryoun area and around the Old City.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army, security service and police said in a joint statement that they raided a hideout used by the Lion’s Den as a laboratory for the production of explosives.
On Oct. 12, the group said it was responsible for a shooting attack in which an Israeli soldier was killed.
According to the United Nations, more than 100 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the start of the year, the heaviest toll in the occupied West Bank for nearly seven years.
Additional report by Imemc.org
[Photo: A wounded Palestinian, carried on stretcher, at Rafidia Hospital after the fire opened by Israeli soldiers killed 5 Palestinians and injured at least 22 others wounded in Nablus, Ramallah, West Bank on October 25, 2022. Photographer: Nedal Eshtayah/AA]
