THOUSANDS of people have turned out for the funeral procession of eleven Palestinian men killed by Israeli military forces during a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, amid heightened tensions that have drawn fears of a further escalation in violence.
The mourners carried the bodies of the victims during a Thursday ceremony attended by people from all walks of life. People were crying as hundreds came on motorcycles and by cars from various Palestinian towns and cities to bid farewell to the martyrs.
Widespread confrontations broke out on Wednesday, soon after Israeli troops stormed Nablus with dozens of armoured vehicles and special forces at 10 a.m. local time (0800 GMT).
The army blocked off all entrances to the city before surrounding a home with two high-profile Palestinian resistance fighters, identified as Hossam Isleem and Mohammad Abdulghani, who were both killed.
At least 11 Palestinians were killed. Another 102 people were also injured – 82 hit by live ammunition, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Six were in critical condition.
A 66-year-old man who suffered from gas inhalation during the raid died in hospital later on Wednesday.
The Lions’ Den resistance group said in a statement that its members engaged in clashes with Israeli forces during the raid, alongside fighters from the newly-formed Balata Brigades. Young Palestinians pelted armoured Israeli vehicles with rocks.
Millions of Palestinians across the West Bank observed a general strike on Thursday as they mourned the eleven victims. Stores closed early in all cities.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the so-called Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, said he was deeply disturbed by the Israeli military’s massacre in Nablus, and that he was working to de-escalate the situation.
‘I am deeply disturbed by the continuing cycle of violence and appalled by the loss of civilian lives,’ Wennesland said in a statement.
‘I am continuing my engagement with all concerned parties to de-escalate the situation. I urge all sides to refrain from steps that could further inflame an already volatile situation.’
Additionally, Israeli military forces shot and injured a Palestinian woman southeast of occupied East Jerusalem over an alleged stabbing attempt against the regime’s soldiers.
The Israeli police alleged that the attempted stabbing occurred near the settlement of Ma’ale Adumim on Thursday morning.
The statement claimed that the woman approached the guards at a checkpoint at the entrance to the settlement while brandishing a knife ‘in an attempt to stab them.’
‘The security guards fired at her and neutralised her,’ police added.
The number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since the start of 2023 has now risen to 61 people, including 13 children, in the occupied territories.
Israeli forces launch raids on cities across the occupied West Bank almost on a daily basis under the pretext of detaining what the regime calls ‘wanted’ Palestinians. The raids usually lead to deadly attack against residents.
Over the past months, Israel has ramped up attacks on Palestinian towns and cities throughout the occupied territories. As a result of these attacks, dozens of Palestinians have lost their lives and many others have been arrested.
On January 26, Israeli forces raided the city of Jenin and its neighbouring refugee camp in the north of the occupied West Bank, killing ten Palestinians in one of the deadliest raids in years.
The United Nations marked 2022 as the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank in 16 years.
Israeli forces killed at least 171 Palestinians in the West Bank and occupied East al-Quds last year, including more than 30 children. At least 9,000 others were injured.
- JOE CATRON, a member of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network says that different political parties and groups in Israel are in serious competition to suppress the Palestinian people.
He made the comments in an interview with Press TV after Israeli troops killed 10 Palestinians and injured at least 102 others during a Wednesday raid on Nablus.
According to the Palestinian health ministry, 82 people were injured by live ammunition, many of them still in critical condition.
‘Israeli political parties and governing coalitions compete with each other on the basis of their brutality against Palestinians, each wants to accomplish at least as many atrocities as the last regime,’ Catron said.
He said the United States has repeatedly emphasised that it has included all-round support for Israel in its policies and that it needs the presence of Israel to advance its goals in the region.
‘We all know regrettably that the US is unconditional in its support for Israel and its crimes.
‘Our President Joe Biden has said multiple times that if there were no Israel, the US would have to invent one to advance its interests in the region.
‘So these US attempts have to be seen in the context of the US ultimately trying to advance its shared goals with Israel perhaps through slightly different strategies.’
Catron said the US uses its influence in international organisations including the United Nations and opposes UN resolutions at any cost, adding it ‘does not allow Israel’s brutality in the occupied territories to be condemned and controlled as it should be’.
‘The US sees Israel as a very useful asset in the area to achieve its own goals and that’s why the US is also ironclad in its support for Israel in the United Nations.’
Palestinians have held a mass funeral for those martyred earlier during an Israeli military raid in northern West Bank.
Wednesday’s bloody clashes broke out after Israeli forces stormed Nablus with dozens of armoured vehicles and blocked off all entrances to the city.
They then surrounded a home with two Palestinian fighters Hossam Isleem and Mohammad Abdulghan, both of whom were killed by Israeli fire.
Resistance group Lions’ Den later announced that it engaged in clashes with Israeli forces alongside the recently announced Balata Brigades group as dozens of young Palestinians pelted armoured vehicles with rocks.
Other Palestinian resistance groups strongly condemned the Israeli aggression as they pledged retaliation.
Catron said, ‘We are dealing with an actual resistance which Israel is doing everything in its power to suppress for various complicated reasons.
‘Parts of the West Bank in Jenin and Nablus and elsewhere are simply spinning out of its control as well as out of the control of the Palestinian Authority.
The latest carnage brings the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in occupied territories since the start of 2023 to 61 people, including 13 children.
The attack also comes less than a month after Israeli forces raided the city of Jenin and its neighbouring refugee camp in the north of the occupied West Bank, killing ten Palestinians in one of the deadliest raids in years.
- Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman says the Israeli regime is doomed to collapse, and the support of the United States will not change the regime’s inevitable fate.
Nasser Kan’ani made the remarks in a series of tweets on Thursday, a day after former Israeli prime minister Yair Lapid warned that the occupying regime is months away from falling apart.
Kan’ani warned those countries that are normalising relations with Tel Aviv, that the Israeli regime is not worth their investment, saying that such moves will not only cause capital loss but will also lead to a degradation of moral values.
He said that even though the US, as Israel’s main strategic ally, can continue supporting Israel and pressuring other countries to normalise ties with it, the decline and ultimate collapse of the regime cannot be prevented.
The remarks came after Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid warned about the disintegration of the regime during a speech at the parliament on Wednesday, saying, ‘In six months when the Israeli economy is crushed, in half a year when Israel starts to fall apart, hate will tear its society.’
Lapid made the comments after the Knesset passed its preliminary reading of a bill that could almost completely end court oversight of legislation, by enabling the parliament to legislate laws that are preemptively immune to judicial review, with a simple majority of 61 of 120 members of the parliament.
The bill is a major part of the regime’s so-called ‘reforms’ which seek to tighten political control over judicial appointments and limit the apex court’s powers to overturn the cabinet’s decisions or Knesset’s laws.
Lapid further slammed the Netanyahu cabinet for saying it was open to talks while still advancing the highly contentious legislation.
‘Don’t play around with us by talking while you’re also passing the bill… What conversation are you talking about? Enough with the lies,’ he said during his speech.
Israeli regime president Isaac Herzog has already warned of ‘collapse’ and ‘implosion’ following protests against prime minister Benyamin Netanyahu-led cabinet’s controversial ‘judicial reform’ plan.
Netanyahu’s coalition, however, claims that the reforms are needed to curb what it calls over-reach by judges.
Protests have been raging since Netanyahu’s new cabinet, dubbed as the most right-wing in the regime’s history, took office in late December.
Netanyahu was reinstated as premier after stitching together a coalition of hard-right and ultra-Orthodox parties.
In 2019, Netanyahu became the regime’s first sitting prime minister to be indicted over corruption while in office. But he refused to step down.
