West Bank strike & settler attack leave six dead

At least five people, including two children, have been killed in an Israeli air strike on an urban refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry says.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) confirmed the strike, on Nur Shams camp near the city of Tulkarm, saying it had targeted what it called the command room of a “terror cell”.

Separately, the health ministry said one person had been shot dead and three injured during an attack by Israeli settlers near Bethlehem. The IDF said it was investigating the reports.

There has been a surge in violence in the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza, triggered by Hamas’s deadly attack on southern Israel on 7 October.

The UN said last Wednesday that 128 Palestinians, including 26 children, had been killed in Israeli air strikes in the West Bank since 7 October.

Overall, 607 Palestinians had been killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, including 11 by Israeli settlers, over the same period, it added.

Fifteen Israelis, including nine members of Israeli forces and five settlers, were also killed in attacks by Palestinians in the West Bank, according to the UN. Another 10 Israelis were killed in attacks in Israel by Palestinians from the West Bank.

Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that an Israeli drone carried out the strike on a house in Nur Shams camp on Monday night and four loud explosions were heard.

The Palestinian health ministry identified the five people killed as Mohannad Qarawi, 19, Jibril Jibril, 20, Adnan Jaber, 15, Mohammed Yusif, 49, and Mohammed Elayyan, 16.

Jibril Jibril was a member of Hamas who had been released from an Israeli prison in November as part of an exchange for Israeli hostages held in Gaza, according to the Palestinian reports.

Nur Shams has been targeted by the IDF several times in recent months. In April, the Palestinian Red Crescent said 14 people had been killed in a two-day Israeli operation there.

Later on Monday, the health ministry said a 40-year-old man named Khalil Salem Khalawi was shot dead during an attack by Israeli settlers in the Palestinian village of Wadi Rahhal, south of Bethlehem. Three other people were wounded, it added.

Wafa cited the head of the village council, Hamdi Ziada, as saying that shots were fired as settlers attacked homes near the local boys’ school.

He also claimed that Israeli forces had entered the village to provide protection for the settlers and fired tear-gas at residents.

Israel’s Ynet news website reported that Mr Khalawi was an Israeli Arab and that he was shot dead by IDF soldiers who arrived in Wadi Rahhal following a claim by settlers that stones had been thrown at an Israeli vehicle. Settlers also clashed with residents of the village, it said.

The IDF said it was looking into reports, which come two weeks after a Palestinian man was shot dead during a settler attack on the village of Jit.

Israel has built about 160 settlements housing some 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem – land the Palestinians want as part of a future state – in the 1967 Middle East war.

The vast majority of the international community considers the settlements illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.

Source: BBC