Israeli forces on Monday killed two Palestinians on the sidelines of an operation in the West Bank to destroy the residence of Palestinians accused of involvement in a deadly attack on an Israeli commander, local officials said.
Palestinians Mohammed Samer Hoshieh, 22, and Fouad Mohammed Abed, 25, were killed by Israeli gunfire during an army raid in the Jenin area, a hotbed of tension in the occupied West Bank in recent months, it said. the Palestinian Ministry of Health in a statement.
For its part, the Israeli army indicated in a short message to the press that it had carried out an operation in the village of Kfar Dan, located in the Jenin sector, "in order to demolish the residences of assailants involved in firing against the crossing point" of Jalameh, also called Gilboa, and which had been fatal to Commander Bar Falah.
Palestinian gunmen opened fire at soldiers on September 14 at the Jalameh crossing point, between the Palestinian sector of Jenin and Israel, killing the Israeli soldier.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of the (secular) Fatah party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, claimed responsibility for the attack. And two Palestinians, living in the village of Kfar Dan and suspected by the Israeli army of being involved in this attack, were killed the same day in exchanges of fire in Jalameh.
The Israeli army regularly destroys the residences of Palestinians it believes are responsible for attacks on Israelis in order to discourage them from perpetrating violence, a policy however described as "collective punishment" by human rights organizations. the man because according to them depriving family members who are not involved in these assaults.
Monday's operation is the first of the fatal year 2023 for Palestinians in the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 by Israeli forces, and comes after a year of high tensions.
In the wake of a series of anti-Israeli attacks last spring, the Israeli army has stepped up its operations in the occupied West Bank.
According to the UN, more than 150 Palestinians were killed last year in Israeli operations or clashes with Israeli forces in 2022, the heaviest toll since the end of the Second Intifada, a Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s.
