“We received a call about several injured people east of Aqraba, southeast of Nablus. We went to the location and examined them, two of whom showed no vital signs.”
Two Palestinians have succumbed to their injuries sustained in an attack by illegal Jewish settlers on a town south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.
Abdulrahman Maher Bani Fadel, 30, and Mohammed Ashraf Bani Jame, 21, died on Monday, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported, citing officials.
Footage widely circulated online showed hordes of settlers storming farmland in Aqraba, resulting in confrontations with the locals.
WAFA said the settlers, under Israeli military protection, attacked Palestinian farmers tending to their farmland and shot live ammunition at them, wounding two.
Yousef Deirieh, an ambulance driver, reportedly told the Quds News Network “We received a call about several injured people east of Aqraba, southeast of Nablus. We went to the location and examined them, two of whom showed no vital signs.”
Watch | Accompanied by Israeli occupation forces, moments when armed Israeli settler militias attacked Palestinian farmers and shepherds in Khirbet Al-Taweel, east of Aqraba town, southeast of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli settlers shot and killed two Palestinians,… pic.twitter.com/h87g3q1nU2
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) April 15, 2024
He said Israeli forces prevented them from “retrieving the two martyrs.”
The soldiers “attacked us and prevented us from transporting them. Their bodies are still being held by them.”
The deaths are the latest as a result of multiple attacks by settlers on several towns in the West Bank since Friday.
Three other Palestinians have also been killed in the attacks over the past few days in which armed settlers set homes and vehicles alight. The settlers also prevented ambulances from reaching the wounded.
West Bank Inferno – Jewish Settlers, Israeli Forces Storm Villages, Set Homes Alight
Armed Militias
On Monday armed settlers attacked Palestinians and their vehicles in multiple West Bank districts, WAFA reported.
Backed by the Israeli army, the settlers attacked Palestinians and vandalized houses and vehicles in Bruqin town, west of the city of Salfit, injuring members of Yasser Shafiq Abdullah’s family.
The casualties were rushed to Salfit Government Hospital, said WAFA.
The settlers, who came from the nearby colony of Bruchin, smashed the windows of a house and a vehicle belonging to Mohammad Shua‘aibi, a local doctor. They also smashed the windshields of two other vehicles.
In Bethlehem, settlers hurled stones at a Palestinian vehicle close to the Gush Etzion colonial settlement bloc, injuring the passengers.
Israeli War on Al-Mughayir – Mourning the Dead is Not Allowed in This Palestinian Village
Meanwhile, armed settlers, under Israeli military protection, reportedly attacked several houses in Shi‘b al Butum, one of the hamlets making up Masafer Yatta, in the southern Hebron (Al Khalil) hills, and set a vehicle ablaze.
Over 700,000 Jewish settlers are living in illegal outposts across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in violation of international law, reported WAFA.
Nablus Raid
Israeli occupation forces stormed Balata camp, east of Nablus, in the early hours of Tuesday.
WAFA reported that several military vehicles stormed numerous neighbourhoods of the camp and deployed snipers on rooftops, but no detentions or raids on homes were reported.
Israeli forces also bulldozed the facade of a commercial store named Al-Arayshi Mall, for the fourth time in a row.
The Israeli authorities on Tuesday issued demolition notices for seven Palestinian-owned homes in the village of Deir Ibzi’, west of Ramallah, under the pretext that they were built without a permit license, reported WAFA.
These policies are part of Israel’s systematic practices aimed at forcibly displacing Palestinians for the benefit of settlement expansion, the report added.
Tha Israeli occupation army invaded Balata refugee camp, Nablus, Jenin and Bethlehem in the West Bank and arrested many Palestinians. The Israeli air force is bombarding heavily Rafah in Gaza Strip where many evicted Palestinians are taking refuge .
— Mustafa Barghouti @Mustafa_Barghouti (@MustafaBarghou1) April 16, 2024
Arrests
Overnight on Monday into Tuesday, at least 25 Palestinians were detained across the West Bank, including a child and former prisoners.
The Detainees’ and Ex-Detainees’ Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society said arrests took place in the governorates of Qalqilya, Hebron, Jenin, as well as Bethlehem and Jerusalem, WAFA reported.
Moreover, the occupation forces continue to carry out widespread raids and torture, severe beatings, and threats against detainees and their families, in addition to widespread sabotage and destruction of citizens’ homes.
The Commission and the PPS added that the total number of arrests since October 7 amounted to more than 8,270, including those who were arrested from homes and at military checkpoints.
They pointed out that these arrest campaigns constitute the systematic policies used by the Israeli forces, as part of the “collective punishment” policy.
WAFA noted that the data related to arrests includes those who were kept in detention as well as those who were later released.
(PC, WAFA)
