At least eight killed by drones in the West Bank after an Israeli Army raid

At least eight Palestinians died this Wednesday in two Israeli attacks with unmanned aircraft (drones) in the occupied territory of the West Bank and after several hours of Israeli military offensive, local medical sources reported.

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In the city of Tulkarem, during what is already the worst escalation of violence in West Bank territory in recent decades, Five Palestinians died in the attack, according to the latest data from the Ministry of Health, all of them young people between 17 and 35 years old.

Israeli forces on the ground “prevented ambulances and the Red Crescent from entering the area to transport the wounded,” Wafa reported.

This attack occurred a few hours after another offensive, also with a drone, in the Balata refugee camp, in the city of Nablus, where the Israeli Army announced the death of the head of the local militias and two other people, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The death of Abu Shalal, considered the head of the local militias in Balatawas linked to his attempt to carry out “an imminent attack” against soldiers and past “terrorist attacks”, according to a military spokesman.

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In November, At least five Palestinians were killed in another drone attack in Tulkarem during a military raid in the city, which has suffered several attacks of this type since Israel stepped up its incursions into the West Bank in parallel to the war in Gaza.

In turn, this past December, an Israeli aerial device killed six Palestinians in the city of Jenin, also in the northern West Bank and where the largest presence of local militias is concentrated.

The West Bank is experiencing its greatest spiral of violence since the Second Intifada (2000-2005) and, so far in 2024, 41 Palestinians have died from gunfire by Israeli forces, after closing 2023 with more than 520 deaths in violent episodes with Israel, the highest number since 2002.

Tension in the region escalated further since the outbreak of the Gaza war on October 7; Since then, 363 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank and more than 2,650 have been detained, 1,300 of them “suspected” of links to Hamas.

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Israel took control of the West Bank in 1967 and since then has maintained a long regime of occupation and colonization over the area.

EFE