ISRAELI forces intensified their campaign of repression across occupied Palestine on Thursday, carrying out violent raids and arbitrary arrests in the West Bank, while a deepening famine in Gaza claimed the lives of three more Palestinians, including a three-year-old child.
In the West Bank, heavily armed Israeli troops stormed several areas overnight, including the Balata refugee camp near Nablus, where they raided homes and arrested Hamouda Khdeish Abu Islam.
In the nearby town of Huwara, former prisoner Anas Odeh was detained following a raid on his home. Further south, in Qabatiya near Jenin, Israeli forces arrested Bassel Abu Jaab, according to local sources.
The crackdown continued in Khirbet Umm al-Khair, a village east of Yatta, south of al-Khalil. Nine residents who had been detained earlier were released on Thursday evening after paying a financial bail of 500 shekels each.
The release was conditional on severe restrictions, including bans on communication between detainees, some of whom are brothers and cousins, and orders to remain at least 100 metres away from the illegal Carmel settlement, which is built on their land.
Their homes are only metres away from the fence.
These arrests followed the killing of Odeh al-Hathalin, a resident of the same village, who was shot dead by an Israeli settler.
On the same day, three Palestinians, including a child, died from malnutrition under the Israeli-imposed siege in Gaza.
Three-year-old Ahmad Samir Abdel Aal died at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis after suffering from acute hunger.
Medical staff confirmed his death was the direct result of prolonged starvation, the third such child fatality that day.
Also pronounced dead at the same hospital was 26-year-old Karam Khaled Al-Jammal, who had been paralysed and dependent on a special diet no longer available due to the blockade.
The third victim, Adil Fawzi Madi, also died from starvation as conditions continue to deteriorate rapidly.
These latest deaths raise the total number of Palestinians killed by hunger since October 2023 to at least 157, including 90 children. Medical authorities in Gaza have warned that starvation-related deaths are rising sharply, with many children showing skeletal symptoms and widespread reports of fainting due to lack of food.
The Ministry of Health said: ‘All the desperate attempts to deny the reality of famine are contradicted by the increasing numbers of emergency cases and the rising death toll we have repeatedly warned about.’
According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a global hunger monitoring body, conditions in Gaza have reached famine levels.
A recent UN report confirmed that every single resident in Gaza is facing extreme food insecurity, amid Israel’s continuing genocide and total blockade.
