Four Palestinians killed in Israeli attack in West Bank

The attack occurred in the village of Sir near Jenin on Sunday, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. It added the killings were a result of “the occupation’s aggression”.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society has reported that Israeli forces had been “preventing our teams from reaching the bombing site”.

Fares Irshaid, a resident of Sir, described the attack.

“In the morning, the planes came and started bombing this area,” Irshaid said, noting, “Shortly after that, the army stormed the entire area. They declared it a closed military zone.”

“There was a group of young men, including my nephew and the son of our neighbours, and we do not know their fate,” he stated.

Israel has not released the bodies of those killed although the military identified one of the dead as 31-year-old Wael Lahluh.

There has been a surge in Israeli military operations and violence by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank since the war in Gaza began October last year.

At least 780 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, adding to the 44,400 Palestinians killed in Gaza since the outbreak of the war.

Israel claimed 24 Israelis have been killed in the West Bank during that period while Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killed at least 1,200 people.

While Israeli settlements are illegal under international law and are seen as a major obstacle to a future Palestinian state, the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has continued their expansion. The military regularly intervenes to protect Israeli settlers.