Israeli soldiers kill Palestinian youth in WB refuge camp

Witnesses told the Palestinian Safa news agency that a large number of Israeli troops stormed the Askar refugee camp, located on the outskirts of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, early on Monday.

Confrontations broke out in the area between Israeli soldiers and resistance forces during the raid, with both sides exchanging heavy gunfire.

Ahmad Jibril, the head of the Palestinian Red Crescent Emergency and Ambulance Department in Nablus, told the official Palestinian news agency WAFA that two Palestinians were shot with live bullets during the confrontations. He said one of them died while the other was shot in the chest and is reported to be in critical condition.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health identified the victim as Saleh Mohammad Sabra, 22, saying he was struck in the chest with an Israeli live bullet.

Moreover, Israeli forces surrounded the family house of Abdel Fattah Hussein Kharousha, a member of the Hamas resistance group who carried out a retaliatory operation in the West Bank town of Huwara last February and shot dead two Israeli settlers, in preparation to demolish it.

Israel’s decades-old policy of leveling family homes of attackers has long drawn criticism from human rights groups that call it collective punishment.

Some also question its effectiveness in preventing future attacks, saying such demolitions only exacerbate tensions and fuel hatred in Palestinian communities.