Israeli forces kill 4 Palestinians in West Bank refugee camp

JERUSALEM

Four Palestinians were killed when Israeli forces opened fire at residents of a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, an official said on Monday.

Israeli forces stormed a refugee camp overnight in Jenin, located in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, Akram Rajoub, the city’s governor, told the official Voice of Palestine radio.

He said Israeli forces seized the bodies of two of the victims, whose identities remain unknown.

The other two victims were Saleh Ammar, 19, and Raed Abu Seif, 21, the Palestinian Health Ministry said in a statement.

Witnesses told Anadolu Agency earlier that Israeli soldiers fired live bullets and tear gas at Palestinians who confronted them at the refugee camp.

Several Palestinian groups in Jenin have called for a general strike on Monday in protest of the killings.

For its part, the Palestinian Authority (PA) condemned the killings by Israeli forces as a “heinous crime."

"We express our strong anger and condemnation of this heinous crime," PA spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said.

"We affirm that the continuation of this Israeli policy will lead to an explosion in the situation and to more tension and instability," he warned.

Abu Rudeineh also held the Israeli government "fully responsible for this escalation and its repercussions."

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry also said: “This crime is a preplanned and premeditated murder committed by the [Israeli] occupation forces to be added to a list of prejudicial executions against our people.”

Palestinian resistance group Hamas vowed to continue the resistance against the decades-long Israeli occupation.

"These blessed blood of Jenin's martyrs is the guarantor to continue the battle of liberation till the departure of the [Israeli] occupation from all our Palestinian lands,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Qasim said.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) also called for continuing the confrontation with the Israeli forces.

"The Palestinian blood spilled today in Jenin will not go in vain," the PFLP said in a statement.

Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara