According to information from Palestinian officials, two teenagers were shot dead by Israeli security forces on October 18 in a city west of the West Bank capital, Ramallah. With this, the Palestinian death toll in the occupied West Bank, the other major Palestinian territory, rises to 64 since the beginning of the escalation of the conflict between Hamas and Israel in early October.
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While all eyes are focused on the intense clashes in the Gaza Strip, violence is also affecting other latitudes that have a Palestinian population: the occupied West Bank. This Wednesday, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, two teenagers were shot dead by Israeli forces soldiers, according to information from Palestinian officials.
As stated by the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian Authority, the young people aged 15 and 17 were shot dead in the village of Shuqba, west of Ramallah. The agency did not give more details of what happened.
However, residents of the scene, in dialogue with the Reuters news agency, stated that the teenagers were trying to set fire to some tires in protest against the State of Israel. For its part, the Israeli defense forces did not comment on what happened, arguing that they are carrying out an investigation into the events.
Since the escalation of the conflict between Hamas and Israel on October 7, 64 Palestinians have died in the occupied West Bank as a result of violence that intensifies with each passing day in the region.
Israel has assured that it is preparing a ground offensive against the Gaza Strip, a retaliation against Hamas attacks on its territory and which has claimed the lives of thousands of Israelis, mostly civilians.
Meanwhile, shelling of the small enclave by Israel has killed at least 3,000 Palestinians, a complete siege of Hamas-controlled territory that increases the anger of Palestinians in the West Bank.
“With our blood and spirit, we will sacrifice ourselves for you, Gaza”
Carrying Hamas flags and chanting the group’s slogans, in the West Bank a small group of young people assured that they were willing to resort to violence to oppose the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip; a strange show of support for Hamas that has little reception in the West Bank territories. “We want the Qassam brigades,” said protesters in Ramallah.
This same Wednesday, Hamas said that one of its members in the West Bank died while handling an explosive that was going to be used against Israeli forces, in the north of the country, near the city of Nablus.
Tensions are increasing due to the escalation of the conflict and many of them turn into protests in the region. The death of at least 500 Palestinians at Al-Ahli Hospital in the Gaza Strip – the result of an explosion for which both Hamas and Israel have blamed each other – sparked a series of demonstrations in the West Bank and the rest of the Middle East.
So far, the explosion at the health center has been the bloodiest incident since the start of the clashes on October 7. The Gaza Strip, a 45-kilometer-long enclave, is the scene of unbridled violence on both sides and the loss of thousands of civilians.
Regarding the attack, the Hamas health authorities, who control the enclave, assured that an Israeli airstrike was the cause of the explosion. In contrast, the forces of the State of Israel attributed what happened to a failed launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
After the explosion, Ramallah (West Bank) witnessed clashes between Palestinian security forces and protesters, who were bombarded by stun grenades and tear gas to disperse them. During the demonstrations, slogans were heard against Mahmoud Abbas, ruler of the Palestinian Authority.
Furthermore, condemnation of the bombing of the hospital in the Gaza Strip spread to the rest of the countries of the Arab world. The Israeli embassies in Turkey and Jordan were the meeting point for several demonstrations, as was the US embassy in Lebanon.
The protests in the cities of Taz (Yemen), Rabat (Morocco) and Baghdad (Iraq) were broadcast on television.
A controversial territory
The West Bank is home to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), led by Hamas’s rival al-Fatah political faction. For this reason, within the territory different positions converge regarding what has been the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people: followers of Hamas, al-Fatah, Israelis and armed groups.
The outbreak of protests that the occupied West Bank has witnessed rekindles Palestinian anger against Abbas, president of the entity. A discontent that is not new and that the West Bank government has had to face. The harshest criticism points to the Abbas administration’s coordination with Israel to control the security of the occupied West Bank.
Furthermore, the territory is of special interest due to its proximity to Jerusalem. The occupied West Bank borders the capital of Israel, one of the geographical points with the greatest religious representation for Muslims, Jews and Christians.
With Reuters and local media
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