Palestinian ministry says Israeli forces kill man in West Bank camp

Palestinian health officials said Israeli forces killed a man on Saturday in Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, while the military said troops fired as he tried to “infiltrate” the area.

The health ministry in Ramallah identified the victim as 34-year-old Nour al-Din Kamal Hassan Fayyad, saying he was “killed by occupation forces’ fire in the Jenin camp”.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said its teams in Jenin received a man “with no signs of breathing or pulse from inside Jenin camp after he sustained a live bullet wound to the thigh”.

The military said its troops fired as he tried to enter the camp.

“IDF soldiers identified a suspect attempting to infiltrate the Jenin Camp area, in which the soldiers are operating, and the entry is prohibited,” the military said in a statement to AFP.

Troops initially fired warning shots but the man continued to approach the camp, it said.

“Following the suspect’s refusal to comply and continued attempt to approach the area, the soldiers fired toward him, resulting in his injury,” it said, adding the soldiers provided him with initial medical treatment before handing him over to the Red Crescent.

Israel launched a major military operation in January last year in multiple northern Palestinian refugee camps, where the army says it is seeking to root out armed groups.

The operation has targeted Jenin and Tulkarem camps and displaced nearly 40,000 Palestinians, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA.

The Israeli military has sealed off Jenin camp, allowing displaced residents only limited access to check on their homes and belongings.

Refugee camps were created in the West Bank, Gaza and neighbouring Arab countries after the first Arab-Israeli war for Palestinians who fled or were expelled from what is now Israel at the time of its creation in 1948.

Since the war in Gaza broke out in October 2023, near-daily violence has also rocked the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.

Israeli soldiers or settlers have killed at least 1,073 Palestinians since then, including many militants, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry data.

Official Israeli figures show at least 46 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations in the same period.

ANEWS wp:paragraph