UPDATE 2 - Israel injures 3 Palestinians during raids in occupied West Bank, arrests 13

ADDS ATTACK; UPDATES BACKGROUND

By Qais Abu Samra, Ikram Kouachi and Lina Altawell

RAMALLAH, Palestine/ISTANBUL (AA) - Three Palestinians, including two children and a person with a disability, were injured Thursday in Israeli attacks in the occupied West Bank, while Israeli forces arrested at least 13 others in raids across the territory, according to Palestinian sources.

In the Qalandia refugee camp north of occupied Jerusalem, Israeli forces carried out a raid that triggered clashes, in which two children were wounded, said the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.

The group said its teams treated a 15-year-old boy who was shot with live ammunition in both legs and a child, 12, who was injured by live-bullet fragments. Both were taken to a hospital.

In a separate incident, Israeli soldiers and occupiers beat Palestinian Mohammad Ahmad Ayesh Thawabta, a person with a disability from the town of Beit Fajjar, while he was in the village of Al-Minya southeast of Bethlehem, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

In Hebron, Israeli forces continued raids and closures for the seventh consecutive day, shutting iron gates around the Old City and seizing Palestinian homes in the Jalda and Ain Deir Baha neighborhoods for use as military barracks, local sources told Anadolu.

In another attack in the Hebron governorate, an Israeli occupier opened fire toward Palestinian children and homes in the village of Saqqa, causing panic for residents, according to Wafa.

Village council head Walid Hashish said the occupier, who was traveling in a vehicle, fired live ammunition toward children playing football at a school field east of the village.

“The occupier also fired toward Palestinian homes and directly at guard dogs near the houses, killing three of them,” he said.

“Residents of the village face repeated attacks by Israeli occupiers which has intensified and increasingly threaten their safety,” said Hashish.”

The Hebron Municipality said Tuesday that the raids had displaced nearly 5,000 Palestinians, making up 780 families.

The offensive began Friday following an attack by two Palestinians that killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded three others. The army later killed the two Palestinians.

Between Friday and Wednesday, Israeli forces arrested 110 Palestinians, the Palestinian Prisoner Society said.

In Salfit, Israeli forces demolished two Palestinian homes and bulldozed land in the town of Deir Ballut, municipal official Jihad Yassin told Anadolu.

He said the forces also bulldozed water lines, citing construction without a permit, and that around 100 demolition notices had been issued in the town, by his estimate.

In August, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee described Israelis involved in violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank as “terrorists,” warning that their attacks were damaging Israel’s image.

In June, 14 UN special rapporteurs warned that the sharp rise in violence by Israeli occupiers, which they said was taking place with state support and complicity, posed an existential threat to Palestinian communities in the occupied territory.

Around 750,000 Israeli occupiers live in 156 settlements and 360 outposts in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, according to Palestinian figures.

The incidents come amid intensified Israeli army raids and attacks by Israeli occupiers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since October 2023.

The attacks have included killings, arrests, home demolitions, bulldozing of agricultural land, assaults on farmers and the displacement of Palestinian communities.

More than 1,220 Palestinians have been killed, 13,350 injured and over 26,000 have been arrested during that period, according to Palestinian figures.