Rights and Accountability 20 October 2023
A Palestinian boy wounded in an Israeli army raid on Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarm is hospitalized, 19 October.
APA imagesIsraeli occupation forces massacred at least 11 Palestinians in a refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank on Thursday.
The army’s invasion of Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarm lasted all day.
The bodies of several Palestinians killed in the camp remain at a local mosque as Israel continues to hamper movement, a community leader told Wafa news agency.
Israeli forces continued to besiege Nur Shams well into Thursday evening, while cutting off water and electricity.Israeli military bulldozers raided the camp, destroyed sections of the main street and restricted movement. Israeli soldiers ransacked homes and vandalized public and private property.
Israeli forces fired ground and air strikes and bulldozed sections of the road “reportedly to neutralize explosives planted in the ground,” the UN monitoring group OCHA said.
On Thursday evening, Israeli forces bombed a house in the camp, Wafa news agency reported. “The damage to infrastructure and homes is yet to be assessed,” OCHA added.
The Israeli army published a video of what appears to be a strike fired at Palestinians in the refugee camp that day. Palestinians reportedly hurled an improvised explosive device at the invading Israeli forces, fatally wounding a Border Police officer and injuring at least nine others.Footage shows the aftermath of the Israeli army’s destruction of property and infrastructure in the camp.
This brings to nearly 80 Palestinians killed by Israeli soldier and settler fire in the occupied West Bank since 7 October.
Twenty Palestinian children have been killed in the occupied West Bank during that period, Defense for Children International - Palestine reported.
Israeli fire killed four Palestinian children between Wednesday and Thursday.
A 15-year-old boy stood in front of his house which overlooks the entrance of the Nur Shams camp to watch Israeli forces invading at dawn.
Israeli forces shot at Taha Ibrahim Mahmeed three times, hitting him twice, once in the head and once in the eye, according to a field investigation by DCIP.
Taha’s dad approached his son to bring him inside the house, but he too was shot in the abdomen by Israeli forces.
Father and son bled for an hour as the Israeli army prevented ambulances from entering the camp, DCIP said. The UN monitoring group OCHA also reported that “Israeli forces impeded the work of paramedics.”
Local media circulated Taha’s picture following his killing:
Children killed
In the early hours of Thursday morning, Israeli occupation forces shot and killed another Palestinian child in the Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank.
Ahmad Munir Sdouq, 17, was inside his house, watching the invasion through the window, when Israeli forces shot him in the head.
On Wednesday, Israeli occupation forces shot at two Palestinian children from a distance of 250 meters (820 feet) near the entrance of the town of Shuqba, northwest of Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Israeli fire hit 15-year-old Khalil Muhammad Shalash in the armpit and neck, and 17-year-old Qais Muhammad Shalash in the lower back. The boys bled for 30 minutes before an ambulance arrived, DCIP said.
PA repression
Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority security forces violently suppressed demonstrations across the occupied West Bank as massive protests erupted following the al-Ahli hospital massacre in Gaza City on Tuesday.
Palestinians took to the streets in Ramallah, Nablus, Hebron, Jenin and other cities to protest the massacre and the Palestinian Authority’s so-called security coordination – collaboration – with Israel.
Local media reported that PA forces fired live ammunition at Palestinians who came out in protest in Ramallah at the hospital massacre:
PA forces also fired at Palestinian demonstrators in Hebron: A 9-year-old Palestinian girl was reportedly killed when armed Palestinians exchanged fire with Palestinian Authority security forces, UN monitoring group OCHA said. Local media said it was Palestinian Authority fire that killed her.The PA forces are Israel’s foot soldiers. They suppress Palestinian opposition and resistance to help Israel maintain its occupation in the West Bank while promoting the illusion of Palestinian autonomy and representation.
