A raid in the West Bank kills ten Palestinians and hurts more than 100 others
The Israeli Defense Forces in the Shuafat Central Control Area: An IDF Soliton and an Israeli Soldier killed in a Shooting Attack
“Overnight, an IDF soldier was killed as a result of being critically injured by a shooting attack at the Shu’afat checkpoint,” the army said in the statement. “The solider was evacuated to a hospital for further medical treatment, where she was declared dead. We express our heartfelt condolences to the family.”
A suspect shot at the security forces at the Shuafat crossing, and a vehicle fired a shot at them. The Border Guard is searching for suspects.
Israeli emergency services said a male in serious condition was transferred to a hospital, and another female was treated at the scene and is in mild condition.
The Shuafat Refugee Camp is situated in East Jerusalem and is considered to be an occupied area by most of the international community.
“The IDF and its commanders regret any harm to uninvolved civilians, including those who are in a combat environment and in close proximity to armed terrorists during exchanges of fire,” the statement continued.
The youngest was 14-year-old Adel Ibrahim Daoud, shot on Friday near the separation wall between Israel and the West Bank, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said, according to Palestinian Authority news agency WAFA.
The Israel Defense Forces said that they spotted a suspect who threw Molotov cocktails at the soldiers during operational activity close to the city of Qalqilya. The soldiers responded with live fire. A hit was identified. The incident is under review.”
After an Israeli military raid in the nearby city of Nablus, gunfire came down on Sunday. Two men over 60 were killed in the raid, and a 66-year-old died of tear gas inhalation. It was one of the most horrible tragedies in the West Bank in recent years.
The Israeli military launched a major operation on the West Bank on Wednesday, leaving more than 100 injured and at least 10 Palestinians dead.
The Jenin refugee camp was being used as a base to arrest a person who the IDF claims was involved in terrorist activities planning and carrying out shooting attacks against soldiers.
Violence between Israelis and Palestinians has surged since Israel stepped up raids across the West Bank following a spate of Palestinian attacks last spring. The bloodshed has spiked this year, with more than 60 Palestinians killed in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, according to a tally by The Associated Press. 13 people have been killed by Palestinian attacks against Israel over the course of a decade.
Israel is raiding the West Bank to target militant and their weapon cache, before they can carry out attacks on Israel. The operation, dubbed “Breaking the Wave” by the IDF, was launched after a series of attacks on Israelis. At least 20 Israelis and foreigners have been killed in attacks targeting civilians and soldiers in Israel and the West Bank so far this year.
“The mounting violence in the occupied West Bank is fueling a climate of fear, hatred and anger. It is crucial to reduce tensions immediately to open the space for crucial initiatives aimed at establishing a viable political horizon,” Wennesland said.
An Israeli teen killed in a bus explosion during a recent election campaign: Israel’s return to power and the threat of a war against terror
The first explosion occurred near a typically crowded bus stop on the edge of the city. The second went off about half an hour later in Ramot, a settlement in the city’s north. Police said one person died from their wounds and at least three were seriously wounded in the blasts.
The victim was identified as Aryeh Shechopek, a teenager who was heading to a Jewish seminary when the blast went off, according to a notice announcing his death. Shechopek was also a Canadian citizen, according to Canada’s Ambassador to Israel Lisa Stadelbauer. There were conflicting reports about Shechopek’s age.
The Israeli teen was wounded in a car accident and taken to a hospital in Jenin. The young man, 17, was from Israel’s Druze minority. The militant took him away from his father and disconnected equipment from the hospital room where they were staying. The army said the young man was already dead when he was taken.
The developments took place as former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is holding coalition talks after national elections and is likely to return to power as head of what’s expected to be Israel’s most right-wing government ever.
Israel’s far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the scene of the attack, greeted by angry young Israelis chanting “death to terrorists.” Police will be ordered to set up checkpoint to inspect all Palestinians entering and leaving the attacker’s neighborhood, as well as pursue legislation to institute the death penalty against convicted attackers.
“We must exact a price from terror,” he said at the scene of the first explosion. “We must return to be in control of Israel, to restore deterrence against terror.”
Police, who were searching for the suspected attackers, said their initial findings showed that shrapnel-laden explosive devices were placed at the two sites. The first of the two blasts went off on a main highway, as rush hour traffic was beginning to pick up. The video from the initial blast showed a debris strewn sidewalk with ambulances wailing on it. A bus in Ramot was pocked with what looked like shrapnel marks.
Yosef Haim Gabay, a medic who was at the scene, said it was “a crazy explosion”. There were people with wounds that bled all over the place.
Despite Palestinians carrying out several attacks in recent years, bombing attacks have become rare since the end of the Palestinian uprising in the late 1990s.
Hamas praised the perpetrators of the attacks, but stopped short of saying it was responsible.
In the wake of the blasts, Israel has closed two West Bank crossings to Palestinians near the city of Jenin.
The case of a Palestinian kidnapping an Israeli soldier in the neighbourhood of Kedumim: Defense Minister Majed Zakarneh told CNN
It was terrible. It was something that was inhumane,” Husam Ferro, the teen’s father, told Israeli news site YNet. I couldn’t do anything when they took him in front of my eyes and he was still alive.
A leader of the Druze community told YNet talks were ongoing regarding the body’s return to the family. Palestinian abductors have been trying to get concessions from Israel. The body would be paid a heavy price if it wasn’t returned.
The Israeli military said on Sunday that a Palestinian armed with a handgun was shot by an Israeli security guard in the West Bank settlement of Kedumim. There were no further details on the incident or the alleged attacker’s condition.
The Palestinians seek all three areas for a future independent state. Israel considers the entire city to be its capital despite it being not internationally recognized.
Jana’s uncle, Majed Zakarneh, told CNN on Monday that his niece “was shot with four bullets, two to her face, one to her neck, and one to her shoulder.”
After the soldiers left the neighborhood, she was found lying on the floor with a face full of blood.
Speaking before the IDF admitted responsibility, the Defense Minister said he wanted to express his rage for her death, if that was indeed the case.
Israel is the most occupied country since Jana’s killing, a statement from the Palestinian Ministry of Health on Monday in connection with a general strike
Hundreds of people took to the streets in Jenin on Monday to coincide with a general strike that had been declared in wake of Jana’s killing.
In a statement on Monday, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh called on the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba, “to investigate the crimes of the occupation and put Israel on the blacklist.” Gamba is currently on a visit to the West Bank and Gaza.
In the occupied West Bank so far in 2022, 166 Palestinians have been killed, which is the highest number since 2005, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Most of the people killed have been terrorists, according to Israel. Human rights groups claim that bystanders have also been killed.
A statement from the Palestinian Ministry of Health said that a boy died after he was shot by Israeli forces.
A 16-year-old boy was wounded by two bullets in the back. The first exited from his chest and the second exited from the abdomen,” that statement said.
Measuring the destruction caused by Israel’s drones: How many Palestinians are allowed to enter the West Bank? A Case Study from Nablus, Palestine
As I conducted a series of focus groups with doctors, nurses, patients and medical faculty members and students, it became clear that it was impossible for me to measure the extent of the damage caused by Israel’s lockdown. The sound of Israel’s military drones patrolling the streets of Nablus for weeks was often referred to as a form of psychological torture. How can I measure that? A public health faculty member came 90 minutes late to a focus group, explaining that she had to leave the city because the road she was trying to take was blocked by a checkpoint, which she thought was funny since she mistakenly put on two socks. What does the population think about events like these being normalized?
I have long felt a responsibility to convey the reality of the situation for Palestinians not only as a researcher committed to justice and equity but also as someone whose family hails from the West Bank. I was born in Nablus to a woman from a nearby village and a man from a Palestinian town that was enveloped by Israel upon its establishment in 1948. My father taught journalism and political science in Nablus, before moving us to the US where I grew up. I’m now a professor myself, because I wanted to follow in his footsteps. My dad was a political scientist but I am a scholar of public health. Health is always political in any setting. I was reminded of how strong that connection is when I traveled to Nablus.
For the majority of the past 50 years, it has remained the same, though there have been periods with more freedom for Palestinians and periods that were more restrictive. When I was a kid, I would visit the West bank every summer for the rest of my life. I remember the long, winding checkpoint lines, with hostile Israeli soldiers looking through our documents. It was during the time Israel imposed curfews on electricity that I remember spending nights with only candles and lanterns. I remember being able to travel from Tel Aviv to the West Bank but had to switch taxis halfway through the trip because Palestinian taxis weren’t allowed. Now I and others of Palestinian descent, regardless of citizenship or country of residence, aren’t even allowed to use that airport without special Israeli permission. Instead, because Israel bombed the last Palestinian airport and won’t allow construction of a new one, we travel in and out of the West Bank through Jordan. (A lucky few have recently been able to fly out of an airport in southern Israel.)
Minutes after the rare and risky daytime raid began, additional support vehicles from Israel’s military and the police entered Nablus, establishing a perimeter around the old city, and blocking entry and exit points. The security forces were travelling in armored cars and were attacked with stones and oranges by other Palestinians.
The next day, after many panicked calls with a taxi company, which assured me it could get me out of the city, I left. Unlike Palestinians forced to live under these conditions every day, my time there had an end date. I will have to analyze my data.
The announcement said that Israel will take new steps to strengthen the settlements this week, in response to public celebrations over the attack. It gave no further details.
The announcement created a cloud over a visit next week by the Secretary of State and threatened to raise tensions after one of the bloodiest months in recent years.
Israeli response to the shooting of seven Palestinians killed in the crossing of the West Bank: Implications for the Palestinians, for the Israeli government and for the crisis in the Gaza region
The Security Cabinet of Netanyahu, which is filled with politicians aligned with the West Bank settlement movement, gave the go-ahead to the measures after two shootings that left seven people dead in Jerusalem.
There was no immediate response from Washington. The Biden administration, which condemned the shooting, opposes settlement construction in east Jerusalem and the West Bank — lands sought by the Palestinians for a future state. Tony Blinken is going to discuss the topic with Israeli and Palestinian officials as he arrives Monday.
Netanyahu could be under pressure to take even tougher action from his government, consisting of religious and ultranationalist politicians. Such steps could risk triggering more violence and potentially drag in the Hamas militant group in Gaza.
“If it’s even possible to put this violent genie back into the bottle, even for a little while, this would require the reinforcement and proper deployment of forces … and carefully managing the crisis without being guided by the widespread calls for revenge,” wrote Amos Harel, the defense affairs commentator for the Haaretz newspaper.
The suspect was killed by police after he opened fire on a group of people outside a synagogue in Jerusalem. It was the worst attack on Israelis in 15 years.
Authorities published the names of four of the victims. They included Asher Natan, a 14-year-old, Eli Mizrahi, a 48 year old and his wife Natali, a 45 year old. Funerals for some victims were scheduled Saturday night.
Mourners lit memorial candles near the synagogue on Saturday evening, and in a sign of the charged atmosphere, a crowd assaulted an Israeli TV crew that came to the area, chanting “leftists go home.”
According to the aunt of Natali Mizrahi, her niece had been celebrating the Jewish Sabbath with her husband and father when they heard gunfire outside.
“While eating, she and her husband wanted to help and went out of the house to treat the wounded; they shot both of them,” Sakovich said in a statement released by Hadassah Hospital, where Natali Mizrahi worked serving food to patients.
In response to the shooting, Israeli police beefed up activities throughout east Jerusalem and said they had arrested 42 people, including family members, who were connected to the shooter.
As police rushed to the scene, two passers-by with licensed weapons shot and overpowered the 13-year-old attacker, police said. The wounded teen was taken to a hospital by the police.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/01/29/1152383010/israel-is-moving-to-strengthen-settlements-after-shooting-attacks
Palestinian protests in Tel Aviv after Friday night’s deadly attack on Jenin: Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir vows a “no-lose” Israeli government
There is a expectation that Blinken will arrive in Israel on Monday. The Biden administration condemned Friday night’s shooting and has called for calm on all sides, but given few details on how it expects to promote these goals.
Palestinian residents of east Jerusalem hold permanent residency status, allowing them to work and move freely throughout Israel, but they suffer from subpar public services and are not allowed to vote in national elections.
Israel’s new firebrand minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has presented himself as an enforcer of law and order and grabbed headlines for his promises to take even stronger action against the Palestinians.
Speaking to reporters at a hospital where victims were being treated, Ben-Gvir said he wanted the home of the gunman in Friday’s attack to be sealed off immediately as a punitive measure and lashed out at Israel’s attorney general for delaying his order.
The new government believes that unelected judges and jurists have too much power in Israel’s justice system.
The issue of the Supreme Court’s future caused weekly protests by Israelis who are upset that the proposed changes to the court would weaken it.
Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in the central city of Tel Aviv Saturday evening for a new protest. Some banners were raised saying that Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir were a threat to world peace.
The Palestinian leadership in the West Bank, meanwhile, upheld its decision to halt security coordination with Israel to protest the deadly raid in Jenin.
Abbas’ office said the Palestinians would “stress the need to stop all Israeli unilateral actions.” An Israeli official said the meeting was meant to ease tensions ahead of Ramadan and came after an American request.
Police say at least two people were killed when a Palestinian rammed his car with a vehicle in Jerusalem. This comes two weeks after a spike in attacks between Palestinians and Israelis.
Police say an off-duty policeman shot and killed a driver. Israeli media named him Hussein Karakeh, 31, from the Palestinian neighborhood Issawiyeh in East Jerusalem.
The Israeli military said it was attempting to arrest three accused militants, adding that it surrounded their apartment building and called for them to surrender. One of the men tried to flee the building, while the other two opened fire on the soldiers, the IDF said, adding that all three were killed.
The names of the two suspects released by the IDF were similar to those of the dead. One of the two people shot while fleeing and the other two killed in an exchange of fire with the military was shot while fleeing, the IDF said.
IDF raids into the West Bank usually occur overnight; the last time the military conducted a daylight operation, they said it was because of an immediate threat.
The brazen raid, coupled with the high death toll, raised the prospect of further bloodshed. A similar raid last month was followed by a deadly Palestinian attack outside a Jerusalem synagogue, and the Hamas militant group warned that “its patience is running out.”
The raid, which reduced a building to rubble and left a series of shops riddled with bullets, was one of the bloodiest battles in nearly a year of fighting in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. A 72-year-old man was among the 10 killed and 102 people were wounded, Palestinian officials said.
The Israeli military said it entered the city to arrest three wanted militants suspected in previous shooting attacks in the West Bank. The men were in a hideout.
The Israeli Military Targeted the Lion’s Den During a Ramadan Rais in the Nablus Old City of Gaza
People stared at the rubble that was once a large home in the Old City of Nablus. From one end to the other, shops were riddled with bullets. Cars parked were crushed. The cement ruins had blood on them. Furniture was scattered across the mounds of debris.
An amateur video appeared to show two men running down the street, while a security camera filmed them. Gunshots are heard, and both falls to the ground, with one’s hat flying off his head. Both bodies remained still.
The group has battled Israel to four wars since seizing control of Gaza in 2007, and Israeli officials have expressed concerns about rising tensions ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins in March.
The Lion’s Den was targeted by the Israeli military on Wednesday because they said it carried out a series of shooting attacks against Israelis in the West Bank.
Palestinian officials acknowledged that militants were killed in the raid. They say that a teen and a old man are among the dead.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the U.S. recognizes Israel’s security concerns but is also “deeply concerned by the large number of injured and the loss of civilian lives” in the raid in Nablus.
News service pictures show that locals threw rocks and fruit at military vehicles while fires raged in the street.
Jordan’s High-Level Security Minister Meets Palestinians in the Light of Sunday’s Shooting in the Occupied West Bank
JERUSALEM — The Jordanian government on Sunday announced that Israel and the Palestinians had agreed to de-escalate tensions, shortly after a Palestinian gunman killed two Israelis in a shooting in the occupied West Bank.
The attendees of the meeting were confirmed by a Palestinian official. A Jordanian official said that the meeting was meant to stop Israel from doing things its own way. The meeting will be held in the Red Sea resort town of Aqaba, Jordan.
The statement marked a small sign of progress, but many questions remained. As the negotiators were meeting, a Palestinian gunman killed two Israeli brothers in the northern West Bank.
An Israeli ministerial committee also gave initial approval to a proposal that would impose the death penalty on Palestinian militants involved in deadly attacks. The measure was on the table for debate.
“On a difficult day in which two Israelis were murdered in a Palestinian terror attack, there is nothing more symbolic that passing the death penalty law on terrorists,” said Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel’s far-right national security minister and West Bank settler.
In order to convey that the master of the house has gone crazy, the Finance Minister called for “striking the cities of terror and its instigators without mercy, with tanks and helicopters.”
Over 7,000 new homes were approved by Israel in the wake of the shooting. The order was not clear if it was affected by the freeze.
The meeting had top officials from Egypt, Jordan, and the United States as well as top officials from other countries. It was a rare high-level meeting between the sides, coming during a time of rising tensions and after the Palestinians cut security coordination with Israel.
Palestinians who oppose any official engagement with Israel said they would protest the meeting, while Hamas criticized the meeting. It called Sunday’s shooting “a natural reaction” to Israeli incursions into Palestinian areas of the West Bank and resulting deaths.
According to the Israeli Foreign ministry, a person from Connecticut died in the shooting in the Israeli occupied West Bank. His death is the latest in a wave of violence that has resulted in the deaths of both Israelis and Palestinians.
Elan Ganeles of West Hartford, Conn., was visiting Israel for a friend’s wedding when he was killed, according to the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford. The shooting took place on a road where tourists go through the West Bank toward the Dead Sea. He recently graduated from Columbia University. He’ll be buried in Israel on Wednesday.
Hundreds of Jewish settlers went on a riot and firebombed the nearby town where a Palestinian was shot and killed.
His brother, Abdul Monem Aqtash, told NPR that Aqtash had recently returned from Turkey where he was volunteering to assist victims of the earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria Feb. 6. He said that Aqtosh was killed by the rioters when he was outside his shop.
The Times obtained security camera footage, witness video and testimony from multiple locations in Nablus, and reviewed posts and live streams from social media that captured the operation to establish where and when the raid and ensuing lethal action played out.
