'Brutal massacre': At least 18 Palestinians killed in Israeli air raid on Tulkarm

At least 18 people have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank, marking the deadliest aerial assault in the occupied territory since the Tel Aviv regime launched its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip last October.

The official Palestinian news agency WAFA, citing the Palestinian Ministry of Health, reported that Israeli military aircraft targeted a crowded café in the al-Hamam neighborhood of camp with at least one missile late on Thursday, leaving at least 18 individuals dead and several others injured.

The report added that civil defense teams and ambulances rushed to the scene following the airstrike, transferring the victims to Martyr Dr. Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital in Tulkarm.

Tulkarm Governor Mustafa Taqatqa stressed that the "brutal massacre" in the Tulkarm camp adds to the long list of crimes that the occupying Israeli regime is committing against the Palestinian nation.

He said all relevant authorities, including medical teams, ambulance and emergency teams from the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) as well as civil defense groups, have been directed to survey the impact of the attack.

The official noted that the crime will not undermine the resolve of Tulkarm residents and freedom-loving Palestinians elsewhere to end the Israeli occupation and establish an independent Palestinian state with al-Quds as its capital.

Taqatqa also called on international and human rights institutions to take immediate and urgent action to stop Israeli crimes, which are blatantly in violation of all international conventions, human rights laws, and international humanitarian principles.

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A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack on the refugee camp as a “heinous crime” against civilians.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh said in a statement that the deadly assault was “part of a broader pattern of genocide against the Palestinian people in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip.”

The Israeli military said its fighter jets carried out the attack on the Tulkarm refugee camp in coordination with the regime’s so-called internal security service, Shin Bet.

The army said in a later statement that it had targeted the head of Hamas’s network in Tulkarm, identified as Zahi Yaser Abd al-Razeq Oufi.

Israeli military incursions and attacks have increased dramatically across the occupied West Bank since the usurping regime launched its war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023.

According to a tally from the United Nations humanitarian office (OCHA), at least 695 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank between October 7 of last year and the end of September.

The vast majority of people were killed by the Israeli army, while a dozen were killed by illegal settlers, OCHA noted.

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