Elderly Palestinian shot dead by Israeli forces in northern West Bank

RAMALLAH, Palestine

An elderly Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Jenin on Sunday, the Health Ministry said.

A ministry statement said that a 73-year-old man was killed by Israeli army fire in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said that its teams had transferred the victim to a hospital from the camp after the Israeli attack.

The official Palestine TV said that the elderly man was shot by an Israeli sniper as he was checking his house in the camp.

The new fatality came hours after five Palestinians were killed and three others injured in an Israeli airstrike in Jenin on Saturday evening.

On Jan. 21, the Israeli army launched a military assault on Jenin city and its refugee camp, killing at least 25 Palestinians. The offensive was later expanded to include the city of Tulkarm, where three Palestinians were killed.

The escalation in the West Bank came after a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal took hold in Gaza on Jan. 19, following 15 months of Israel’s genocidal war that killed over 47,400 and reduced the enclave to rubble.

Since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023, more than 900 Palestinians have been killed across the occupied territory in attacks by Israeli forces and settlers.