SEVEN Palestinians were killed and 13 others injured yesterday morning when the Israeli occupation forces stormed Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank and randomly opened fire on local residents. Two of the seven killed were children.
Four of the dead were Mahmoud Hamadiya, a 14-year-old schoolboy, teacher Allam Jaradat, Muammar Abu Amira, 48, and Amir Abu Amira, 20. Three of the wounded suffered serious bullet injuries.
Dr Wissam Bakr, head of the Jenin Hospital’s surgery department, was also shot dead near the hospital.
Usaid Kamal Jabarin, a 50-year-old general surgeon, was shot dead by the Israelis while on his way to Jenin Government Hospital, where he worked as a specialist.
In a statement, the Palestinian Health Ministry condemned Jabarin’s ‘deliberate murder’ and appealed to the international community for the protection of medical staff and hospitals.
Israeli forces stormed the camp and opened fire at school students and others, which provoked clashes with local youths and resistance fighters in some areas.
Soon after the raid, a bulldozer went into the refugee camp and demolished the home of one of those killed earlier.
Meanwhile, after the latest aggression in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, which has continued for the eighth day, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) left widespread destruction, specifically targeting shelter centres and schools.
The Government Media Office (GMO) said: ‘With intense airstrikes and shelling, the brutal Israeli aggression on the Jabalia camp continues for the eighth day in a row. Whole residential blocks were destroyed, some of them over the heads of their occupants.’
‘As a result, hundreds more people were injured in addition to dozens of martyrs, many of whom have not yet been removed from under the debris.
‘In a new crime committed by the occupation against defenceless civilians, and regrettably once again in front of the eyes of the international community, the occupation army is besieging families in several areas (in the Jabalia camp), especially schools, without being able to know the fate of the besieged people or provide relief to them,’ the GMO underlined.
The death toll from the ongoing Israeli bombardments and shooting attacks, which started on October 7th, has climbed to 35,562 and the number of wounded has surged to 79,652.
The al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad group, reported yesterday that its fighters had engaged with Israeli troops in Jenin.
A statement from their Jenin Battalion said ‘violent clashes’ started after ‘an infiltration of the special forces’ into the camp.
Hamas called the Israeli army’s operation in Jenin ‘desperate’ and ‘a continuation of the occupation’s crimes of murder, siege and starvation in Rafah, Jabalia and other areas of the Gaza Strip.’
The resistance movement added: ‘As we mourn the martyrs and extend our condolences to their families, we affirm that the occupation’s continuing crimes against our people in Gaza and the West Bank will not weaken the support of our people, nor will they stop the resistance of our people.’
It stressed it ‘continues to confront the occupation and its aggression by all means, despite international complicity and silence.’
- An Israeli strike hit a group of people in the Yabna refugee camp in central Rafah yesterday, killing some five civilians and wounding others, at least three of those killed were children.
