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Three Palestinian militants were killed on Monday, May 22, in the midst of a large-scale raid by the Israeli army in the Balata refugee camp, in the northern occupied West Bank. The operation, carried out in the middle of the night, was described by the inhabitants of the area as the largest in recent years.
For Israel it was a “counterterrorism” operation, but from the Palestinian Authority they describe it as a “true massacre.”
Three dead Palestinians is the result of a large-scale incursion by the Israeli military in the Balata refugee camp, in the Nablus area, north of the occupied West Bank. An operation that the inhabitants of the place described as the largest in recent years.
According to the version of the Israeli Army, its forces were attacked by armed men when they were preparing to carry out an operation aimed at capturing “terrorist” suspects, which led to a firefight between the two parties.
“Armed suspects fired at the soldiers, who responded with live ammunition,” the military institution said.
Balata camp witnesses a large-scale lsraeli raid that resulted in the killing of three Palestinians. It has been reported that, following this crime, the number of Palestinians killed by the lsraeli occupation forces since the start of this year has exceeded 150. pic.twitter.com/n9HUSVQ54l
— TIMES OF GAZA (@Timesofgaza) May 22, 2023
The Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed the three deaths and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an armed group associated with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah party, said the three men belonged to its movement.
Fatah identified them as Fathi Jihad Rizq, 30, Abdullah Yousef Abu Hamdan, 24, and Mohammad Bilal Zeitoun, 32.
The Army added that it had “detained three people wanted on suspicion of involvement in terrorist activities” and had confiscated rifles, ammunition and explosive devices, while also destroying a bomb-making site.
“Israeli soldiers blew up our house”
Residents of the refugee camp pointed out that the pre-dawn raid had a military deployment not seen there in years and Israeli Army Radio indicated that a relatively large number of soldiers were involved.
“We were sitting and then we heard the sound of shots. I took my daughters and we moved to a safe corner away from the windows (…) I started to pray, the soldiers were in front of our house and suddenly they left, but at ten minutes they blew up the house. We were inside and they didn’t ask us to leave, they didn’t tell us anything, they didn’t warn us,” said Majeda Abu Shallal, whose house was severely damaged.
Although the Israeli authorities assured that they destroyed a place where explosives were manufactured, they did not specify if it was the same house as Shallal.
Residents of the camp cited by Reuters indicated that a Palestinian militant lived in the house and some images released by the agency showed the interior of the place reduced to rubble.
“The continued aggression against the city of Nablus, its villages and camps by the occupation forces and extremist settlers is a great war crime and collective punishment that must end immediately,” Abbas’s spokesman said. , Nabil Abu Rudeineh.
Balata is the largest refugee camp in the West Bank with some 30,000 inhabitants, a high population density for 24 hectares of land. In the past year, Israeli soldiers have carried out frequent raids there on the grounds of detaining suspects of involvement in a series of deadly street attacks on Jewish citizens.
However, no raid had involved as large a contingent of troops as the one seen by area residents on Monday. Around 400 soldiers participated, as reported by ‘The Times of Gaza’.
Since the beginning of 2023, Israeli forces have killed at least 156 Palestinians, including 26 children. The death toll includes 33 Palestinians killed by Benjamin Netanyahu’s army during a five-day assault on the besieged Gaza Strip between May 9-13.
For their part, 21 people -18 Israelis, a Ukrainian, an Italian and a Gazan worker in Israel- have died this year in attacks carried out by Palestinians in East Jerusalem or the West Bank, or by rocket fire from Gaza.
With Reuters and AFP
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