This story originally appeared in Peoples Dispatch on Feb. 22, 2023. It is shared here under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) killed at least 10 Palestinians in a raid in the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, February 22.
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Wafareportedthat the Palestinian Ministry of Health identified 72-year-old Adnan Saabe Baara and 16-year-old Mohammad Farid Shaaban as among those killed. Abdul Hadi Abdul Aziz Ashqar, Tamer Nimr Minawi, Mohammad Khaled Anbousi, Musab Munir Awais, Walid Riyad Dkhail, and Jaser Jamil Qanier were also killed, according to the ministry.
Over 100 people were injured as the Israeli forces used live ammunition during the operation. Six people have been hospitalized in a very critical condition. Two journalists, including a reporter forPalestine TV 95, Mohammad Al-Khatib, were also among those injured.
General strikes were called in Nablus and Ramallah on Wednesday in response to the attack.
Israeli forces had entered Nablus with armored vehicles at around 10 am local time on Wednesday, when the city’s markets were crowded, blocking off all entrances to the city.
According to eyewitness accounts, the IOF proceeded to surround a house while two Palestinian resistance fighters, 24-year-old Hussam Bassam Isleem and 23-year-old Mohammad Abdul Fattah Abdul Ghani, were inside. The two young men refused to surrender and were killed.
Analleged recordingof Isleem was shared on social media in which he was heard saying: “We won’t hand over our weapons. I’ll die as a martyr. Keep carrying weapons after us.”
The Lion’s Den resistance group has released a statement saying that its fighters, along with other armed groups in the area including the Balata Brigades, were engaging in armed clashes with the Israeli forces.
Meanwhile, as local residents resisted the invasion, the Israeli forces fired live bullets, tear gas, and sound bombs. Palestinian media alsoreportedthat Israeli forces had fired missiles at the besieged building while snipers were positioned in the vicinity. A military helicopter was also spotted over the city.
The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that its ambulances and medics were not allowed to reach the area in the aftermath of the raid.
This attack comes just weeks after similarly deadly raids onJeninandJerichoin the West Bank. Israeli forces have now killed at least 60 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem since the start of 2023.
Among them are 13 children, including 16-year-old Montaser Mohammad Shawa, who succumbed to his injuries on February 20 after being shot in the head during a raid in Nablus’ Balata refugee camp on February 8.
Israel’s extremist government led by Benjamin Netanyahu is overseeing a drastic escalation of violence against Palestinians—be it inprisons, throughlawsin the Knesset, or direct attacks in the occupied Territories and theGaza strip.
Jenin and Nablus have been especially targeted by near-daily raids over the past year, with the West Bank seeing the highest number of killings last year since 2005, the year considered to mark the end of the Second Intifada.
Palestinians are fiercely resisting the violence of the Israeli settler-colonial apartheid regime by all means necessary, including a strengthening armed resistance and coordinated campaigns ofcivil disobedience.
