By Nurah Tape – The Palestine Chronicle  

Israeli occupation forces have killed two Palestinians and injured four others, including a woman and child, in a drone strike on the Balata refugee camp in Nablus in the occupied West Bank.

According to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, the two were killed when an Israeli drone bombed a gathering of Palestinians in the camp on Thursday. Four others were injured when the Israeli army stormed the camp resulting in clashes.

The resistance group Al-Qassam Brigades announced that one of its fighters, Wael Bilal Masha, was killed alongside another fighter, Ahmed Firas Al-Sheikh Khalil, as they resisted the incursion by occupation forces.

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Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas said the “criminal bombing” of civilians in Balata Camp is “a continuation” of Israel’s “crimes and the failed attempts of its extremist government to eliminate the Palestinian presence.”

“This aggression serves the agenda of the fascist government of extremist zionists, aiming to eliminate our cause, displace our people, and tighten control over the West Bank and Al-Quds,” the movement said.

It affirmed that “the ongoing crimes and assaults in the occupied West Bank, and the attempts by this fascist government to activate a new genocide against our people, driven by the statements of its extremist ministers calling for the killing and displacement of our people in the cities and camps of the West Bank, will not bring security to the occupation and its settlers.”

Mass Arrests

Israeli forces detained 30 Palestinians across the West Bank on Wednesday night into the early hours of Thursday, with most arrests taking place in the Hebron (Al Khalil) district in the south of the West Bank.

The Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) said in a joint press statement that the detentions took place in the governorates of Jenin, Hebron, Ramallah, Qalqilya, and Jericho.

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The raids were marked by violence and intimidation, said the statement. Witnesses reported that the detainees and their families were subjected to threats, and extensive damage was inflicted on their homes during the raids. The Israeli forces also engaged in widespread property destruction.

According to the two organizations, over 10,000 Palestinians have been detained from the West Bank, including Jerusalem since October 7.

(PC, WAFA)

– Nurah Tape is a South Africa-based journalist. She is an editor with The Palestine Chronicle.