Israeli forces have killed a young Palestinian man and wounded another during a raid on a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the latest in a year-long spike of violence that shows no sign of abating.
Witnesses told the Palestinian Safa news agency that a large number of Israeli troops stormed the Askar refugee camp, located on the outskirts of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, early on Monday.
Confrontations broke out in the area between Israeli soldiers and resistance forces during the raid, with both sides exchanging heavy gunfire.
Ahmad Jibril, the head of the Palestinian Red Crescent Emergency and Ambulance Department in Nablus, told the official Palestinian news agency WAFA that two Palestinians were shot with live bullets during the confrontations. He said one of them died while the other was shot in the chest and is reported to be in critical condition.
The number of Palestinians who were killed by Israeli gunfire has risen to 152, including 33 who were killed during the most recent Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.
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The Palestinian Ministry of Health identified the victim as Saleh Mohammad Sabra, 22, saying he was struck in the chest with an Israeli live bullet.
Moreover, Israeli forces surrounded the family house of Abdel Fattah Hussein Kharousha, a member of the Hamas resistance group who carried out a retaliatory operation in the West Bank town of Huwara last February and shot dead two Israeli settlers, in preparation to demolish it.
Israel’s decades-old policy of leveling family homes of attackers has long drawn criticism from human rights groups that call it collective punishment.
Some also question its effectiveness in preventing future attacks, saying such demolitions only exacerbate tensions and fuel hatred in Palestinian communities.